Converging Identities
by TenaciousTendencies
Summary: When Ginny, Draco, and Blaise have no one to go to for comfort, they confide in eachother. Rated M for later chapters.GxDxB
1. Of Rough Starts and Train Rides

**Prologue**

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing except my own plot

A/N: I wrote the first section in first person POV from Ginny, but in the following chapters it will go on in third person POV. If I kept it in Ginny's POV, it would be impossible to show what the other characters are thinking and feeling or doing when Ginny was not around, and that is an important part of the story that I have planned.

I remember, it seems all so long ago now, thinking there was nothing more in the world that I wanted than I already had. Oh, how simple minded I was. I thought I had my whole life painted out before me. Harry was the only thing on this Earth that I believed I could find happiness in. Back then I was ignorant enough to think that he was my everything. To me he was the very life and soul of me, he made me the happy person I was. He was my life and my breath, without him I thought I would not survive. I could not live without him.

That was before he left me, left to save the world along with my brother and best friend. He said I could not go, that it was too dangerous. He was only trying to protect me. He wanted to be my savior, my knight in shining armor. He wanted to keep me safe. I tried to understand, but I could never see reason with his leaving. I wanted to go, needed to. Oh how I had wanted to slap those luminous green eyes out of his precious scared head.

To me he didn't care. If he had cared for my safety he would have taken me with him. Surely he must know that I am not some child. My sanity would not be safe not knowing where he was. He was too controlling. He kept treating me like I might break at any moment. I wanted to live. I wanted to help fight for the cause I believed in, but for his sake, because he demanded it of me, I stayed at the Burrow, alone, for the whole summer while they were off, who knows where, finding horcuxes and defying Lord Voldemort himself.

But he had promised he would come back to me. He had said that even though he was gone for now, it wouldn't always be like that, and that once the dark was defeated he would be with me forever. He said I was the only thing that he wanted.

He gave me a locket, and every time I looked into my mirror, I would see it. My locket. My safe keeping he had said. The one thing I kept close to my heart. He had given me the necklace, which for the longest time hung around my slender neck, and told me that no matter where I was or who I was with it would always keep me safe. He said he loved me, and I him, and I had meant it.

It has been an eternity since then. My life has changed, I'd like to say for the better. I feel content and complete. But almost everyone disagrees.

So I will now share my life altering experiences, which I have found led me to my happiness, or as other say, to my undoing.

--

**Chapter One**

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything except the plot.

She was late. She was very, _very_ late. Just a couple minutes until 11:00, until the Hogwarts Express leaves. And she, Ginerva Weasley, if she did not hurry her little arse along, was going to miss it.

With her conspicuous auburn curls flying everywhere, and her usual pale face flushed from rushing, she had just stepped through the barrier of Platform 9 ¾, to see her scarlet destination puffing steam and screaming its horn.

Cursing, she lugged her heavy trunk, weaving and occasionally shoving through the many parents blowing affectionate kisses to their children and saying their farewells.

_If only they hadn't left_, Ginny thought, the sudden loneliness crashing down upon her.

It would only be her this year. Her parents were urging her to try and make some new friends in her year, but try as she might, Ginny just couldn't see that happening. She didn't want new friends. She wanted her old companions, and she'd rather go without friends altogether than go without Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

But even so, she reassured her stressing parents before she left that she would try, and that had been satisfactory enough for them.

Everywhere she looked as she neared the train, people were holding each other or smiling and talking to one another. And for the first time since Harry and the others left, Ginny felt completely and utterly alone.

Being alone at the Burrow all summer was bad enough, but now being alone in a place where everyone had someone was just downright depressing.

_Maybe I wont be completely alone. Maybe Ill end up meeting someone to take my mind off of Harry_, she thought as she climbed aboard the Hogwarts Express.

Just as she closed the door behind her, the Hogwarts Express jolted to a start, gaining speed and rounding the bend, out of sight of the waving and calling parents.

And as the train jolted to a start, it also jolted Ginny into one of the nearby compartments, her trunk following and landing on her with a loud _thump_, and promptly knocking the breath from her.

"Well at least that saved me the trouble of actually finding a compartment," she murmured once she could breathe.

But apparently she had spoken too soon.

As she looked up, still on the floor of the compartment, she realized she wasn't completely alone as she had thought.

Dusting the invisible dust off her clothes, she got up and tried to assess who the only other occupant in the compartment was.

Whoever he was, she couldn't tell. He was lean, but covered head to toe in a fine velvet cloak, with the hood drawn up around his head. He was leaning, hunched upon the glass of the window, and from what she could tell, he was blissfully ignorant of her presence. In fact, he seemed blissfully ignorant of the whole world. She could've sworn she heard him snore.

From her position by the door she could hardly see any aspect of him to give him away. She could hardly even see his face.

Quietly, carefully, as to not wake the occupant, Ginny lugged her trunk from the floor, and tried in vain to life the heavy thing above her head to the above rack. However, it appeared she had packed too much, and after several failed attempts to place the trunk in its rack, she decided to ask for help.

She carefully placed her luggage down, and inched her way towards the sleeping figure.

Without touching him, Ginny leaned over his slouched form, trying to glimpse his face beneath the cloaks hood. She placed a hand on the window to herself steady, and bent her face close to his. All she could see under his hood was his white-pale cheeks, straight pointed features, and white-blonde hair.

He itched vaguely at her memory, but because he was still somewhat obscured, it was hard to tell who he was.

Ginny, still looking at the side of his face thought him distinctly handsome.

She moved her free hand over to his hood and slowly started to ease it down.

However when Ginny leaned too far over it was at that moment that her foot, which was planted firmly beside the strangers feet, suddenly slipped out from beneath her, and she promptly fell on top of the sleeping figure.

Startled awake, the boy's head flew up to see what was crushing him. His hood slipped down and Ginny found none other than Draco-_bloody_-Malfoy scowling down at her.

"Weasley!" He growled out her name, "Kindly _remove_ yourself from me," he said, pushing her off of him before she could react. She stumbled back into the seat opposite him and sat down with a scowl now marring her own features.

"Get _out_!" He spit out at her, raising his thin hand shooing her out.

"I don't know _who_ you think you are Malfoy, but _I_ have no intention of leaving." She harrumphed and stomped angrily toward her trunk, mightily heaving it above her head and trying to put it onto the rack…and failing miserably. The heavy trunk thundered to the grown, slamming on her right foot.

"Shit!" She gasped and started to hop around the compartment grabbing at her foot, and cursing like a sailor. Malfoy had the grace, if you could call it that, to not laugh aloud, but a smirk was planted firmly across his face.

"I think your trunk has the right idea and doesn't want to stay," He drawled, getting up and moving over to her trunk, opening the compartment and throwing the thing out into the hall. "Now if you'll so kindly _get out_, before I throw _you_ out too."

Ginny only glared at him and exited into the hall. Malfoy sneered at her and right when he about slammed the door in her face, she lugged the trunk back _into_ the compartment giving him an almost innocent smile.

"Sorry Malfoy, but the trunk and I are _staying_."

"Sorry _Weasley_," he growled out, "but you're _not_."

So there, halfway between the sliding door and the hallway, Malfoy and Weasley battled it out. She was pushing on her trunk from the outside, and he was pushing back with all his might.

"You might want to give up, Weaselette," he said, giving the trunk a hard push. Ginny fell backwards, and would've fallen down but landed on the lunch trolley as the plump lady was making her rounds.

Embarrassed, Ginny apologized, giving her a timid smile, and turned around, shoving the trunk and Malfoy into the compartment in all her rage and slamming the sliding door shut.

She sneered at him and sat down.

"Like it or not, Malfoy, I'm not leaving. This train is packed. If _you_ don't want to be around me, then _you_ leave. But that's not _my_ problem." She leaned back and folded her arms across her chest, daring him to try and make her leave again.

"Fine!" He spat at her, and got up. For a moment, Ginny thought he was actually going to leave, but instead he went over to her trunk and threw it up easily to the rack. Glaring daggers at her, he turned back and sat back down, mimicking her gesture and folding his arms.

_This is going to be one hell of a trip,_ Ginny thought to herself before leaning back and focusing her gaze out the window and onto the passing scenery.

--

Ginny didn't know how right she was. The first half of the trip to Hogwarts passed in a very uncomfortable, awkward, deadly silence. The majority of the time she spent gazing longingly out the window, or exchanging harsh insults with Draco.

"Where are your friends anyway? Did Crabbe and Goyle actually grow a brain and learn to walk away from you?"

Draco just sneered at her. "I didn't need them so I told them to leave me alone. Unlike _someone_, I don't need to rely on friends."

But right as he said that, Blaise Zabini opened the sliding door, and bearing a large grin sauntered over to where Draco sat. He slapped his mate on the back before eyeing the only female in the compartment.

"My, my, Draco. Did _you_ catch this little redhead here?" Ginny kept a wary eye on Blaise, but couldn't help noticing that he at least used a light and joking tone, opposed to Draco's harsher one. She also couldn't help but see him checking her out. Apparently neither did Draco.

"Ugh, Blaise. I thought you had better taste than _that_! I mean, honestly, blood traitor filth like her? I couldn't even get this scum out of this compartment!" He rolled his eyes as Blaise just continued to inspect her very nice, developing features.

Blaise got up, and walked over to Ginny's side, sitting down beside her and wrapping his arm around her shoulder, squishing her to him.

"Aww, Draco, don't be so harsh. She's a cute blood traitor," He said, rubbing his thumb over her arm. Ginny turned red to the tips of her ears, blushing violently. But she also seemed to be trying very hard to control her temper. Draco seemed to be getting annoyed at his friends actions, and had taken to glaring at Blaise. This only caused Blaise to laugh, and egged him on. He brushed back a strand of Ginny's hair behind her ear, and his thumb that was rubbing her arm slowly slid around more, starting to rub her chest.

Ginny looked as if she was about to blow, but she thought better of it. It was clearly obvious it was making Draco fume, so why not just get him going? She starting giggling like a school girl, and hitched up her skirt a little. Blaise reacted just as she had planned, and started stroking her thigh with his hand. Draco looked away, pretending he didn't see the scene, but a pink blush stood out against his stark white skin.

Blaise caught on quickly with the act, and his hand starting reaching higher and higher up her leg. Ginny groaned out his name in fake pleasure, squirming under his touch, and right when Blaise's hand was about to reach her underwear Draco stood up.

"_Enough!_" He growled out, yanking Blaise up from his perch beside Ginny, and roughly shoving him down beside himself.

"Aww come on Draco! I was just having a little bit of fun!" He pouted, bashing his wonderfully long eyelashes. His silky black hair got in his way, and he shook his head to get it out.

"Yea 'come on Draco! I was just having a little bit of fun!'" She mimicked Blaise, now smiling openly.

"See Draco? The littlest weasel wants to have some fun. Lets show her a good time!" He winked at Draco, but Draco just scoffed and turned away from his friend.

"I choose _not_ to associate myself with mudblood loving traitors." He snarled.

An uncomfortable silence stole upon them once more, and was interrupted by nothing. Blaise just rolled his dark eyes at his friend and smirked at Ginny.

This really was turning out to be one hell of a trip…just like the fast approaching school year.


	2. Of Promotions and Love Potions

_**Chapter 2**_

_**Disclaimer: **__Me no own, You no sue._

_A/N : Thanks for the few reviews I got. It means lots to me. If I don't get reviews I wont finish the story lol. __I need inspiration people!_ Anyway me and my friend are advertising each others stories in our stories. Her story is **Musical Undertones**. Even though I hate Degrassi, I love her so go and check it out if you like that show. Her name is **ATaintedStarsNightmare** . Now on with Chapter 2.

It felt odd to Ginny, sitting alone at the Gryffindor table. There were empty seats all around her, which she didn't mind. She'd rather be left alone anyway. It seemed as if all the students in her house could tell this, and had seated themselves purposefully away from her.

She was in a rather bad mood anyhow. Not only had she had to endure Malfoy and Zabini on the train, but they had also shared her carriage up to the Great Hall. The things they said made her want to fling open one of the doors and shove them out.

Draco continued to either pointedly ignore her, or whenever he did actually acknowledge her presence, he glared at her or sent a harsh comment or gesture at her…which, with much enthusiasm, she gladly returned. She hated the fact that he thought himself above all others. What an ass. She wasn't going to let him just walk all over her.

But Zabini was all smiles to her. He tried to make conversation, which she only entered into because he seemed polite enough. When they weren't talking, he was checking her out or winking at her, which she had chose to ignore.

But now seated at the Great Hall, she was much relieved to just sit back as the first years were getting seated. It reminded her of when she was getting seated into Gryffindor, and Harry and her brother had missed it.

_Harry_.

_Why cant I ever get him out of my head? It doesn't make things easier,_ She thought to herself. She would just have to forget about him this school year. Besides, it wasn't as if he would be back anytime soon, right? And he probably wasn't thinking about her either.

Ginny stopped her train of thought when Dumbledore stood up, eyes twinkling, to make his beginning speech. Before he started talking, he eyes roamed over to where Harry and the others vacated seats were…where Ginny was now sitting, alone. He gave her a sympathetic smile, and began his speech.

"This is a grave year indeed. We must all be wary that the Final Battle could be upon us at any time. But let me assure you all that, as long as I am here and it is within my powers, I will not let any dangers befall my students or staff. However, many parents have confirmed my belief on how worried they are. These are dangerous times, and I cannot blame anyone for not wanting to stay. So, for the time being, I am allowing any student with the wish to leave, to board on the next available train, and return to the safety of their homes. The rules from years hence still apply. The Forbidden Forest is off limits, unless consented by myself or another faculty member. The curfew is nine o clock, anyone out later than that will receive punishment for their actions. To all those who are staying, welcome! Enjoy your year at Hogwarts."

With that, the headmaster clapped his hands once, and all the tables were laden with food. The chatter instantly started up as Dumbledore seated himself, and everyone dug into the delicious feast prepared for them.

Ginny wasn't really hungry, and ate little. She just didn't feel right being back here. It felt like a dream. Where were her friends? Why were people going to go back home? This didn't seem like the Hogwarts she remembered. It was too solemn and gray in these bleak times.

So instead she sat, waiting as the many plates were devoured from the starving students. She sat as tray after tray of food and desserts were brought in and cleared from the table. Soon students had started drifting to their common rooms, tired with all the festivities. But as almost everyone was gone, Dumbledore caught her eye and motioned her over to him.

Ginny stood, wondering what could possibly be the reason he would need to speak to her. She walked up to the table at which he still sat, looking over his many students in a fatherly way.

"Yes Professor? Have I done something wrong?"

"No, of course not Ms. Weasley. I just wanted to talk to you about this upcoming school year. I have noticed that you seem very alone. You hardly ate anything, and sat away from the others. Is something wrong? Is there something you would like to tell me?" He inquired.

"Its just odd being back with the others gone, sir. Its so different. This doesn't feel like the Hogwarts I once knew." She explained.

"Ahh yes, I understand. Well there was also another reason I wanted to speak with you Ms. Weasley," He paused, and her eyebrows rose. What more could he possibly want to tell her? "Well Ms. Weasley, last year I had considered raising you up to seventh year level, so you could be with and graduate with all your friends. However, seeing that they are not here now," Here his eyes twinkled. He knew where they were. "I was debating on whether or not I should place you in seventh year. But I see now, you have no friends in your year, and you are still as smart as ever, so I am letting the offer stand. You may, if you wish, be promoted to seventh year."

He paused waiting for a reply. Ginny had to think about this. It was a lot of responsibility on her part. Sure she was smart enough, but it was still a lot of stress. Lots of studying, lots of homework…and NEWT's. She didn't want to enter into it if she didn't think she could do it.

But she could do it! She'd prove that she was smart enough, determined enough.

"Ill do it Professor," she said smiling at him.

"Very good, Ms. Weasley. I trust you can handle the responsibility. You will receive your schedule tomorrow morning. You'll have to borrow some of the class sets of book until we can get you down to Hogsmeade and buy you the proper texts. Have a good night, Ms. Weasley." With that he stood, along with the other faculty members and left her.

She walked briskly up to the common room, plopping herself down in one of the comfortable chairs that the Golden Trio used to sit in, thinking over the decision she had just made.

_Was it the right one?_ She asked herself. But she was up for the challenge, and besides, it was too late to change her mind now. She had already agreed.

So instead she decided to take her mind off of it. _Ill think about it later. No need to stress myself on my first night back. Its no big deal anyway._

She took out one of her sappy romance novels and began to read by the fireside. Everyone was in their respective dormitories already, so it was just her.

She loved her romance novels. She would pretend that she was the damsel in distress, and Harry was her rescuer. It was sappy she knew, but she was the sappy romantic type anyway.

She began to doze off, and within minutes she was sitting in the chair, book askew, fully asleep.

--

Ginny awoke to the sound of feet clamoring down the stairs, and someone gently shaking her shoulder. She opened her eyes and blearily looked up to the person who's hand was still resting on her shoulder.

"Gin, wake up!" Colin Creevey's voice drifted over the rising noise of students coming down from their dormitories. "You must've fallen asleep, it's almost time for breakfast."

She rubbed her hands over her eyes and groaned. She was absolutely knackered! She stretched her aching back in the chair and clumsily got up. Colin laughed as she banged into one of the side tables.

"Not much of a morning person, are you?" She just grumbled and headed up to the girls bathroom for a quick shower.

She looked a wreck. She looked into the mirror and saw her violent red hair in a tangled mat on her head, and bags under her eyes. Sighing, Ginny turned the water on steaming hot and crawled into the shower.

After she reemerged, she looked a hell of a lot better than she had. She was slightly pink from scrubbing, but the bags had gone and her hair was finally under control. She rushed to her room and got changed into her uniform, whispering a drying spell on her hair before combing her long, cascading curls.

If she wasn't fast, breakfast would soon be over, and she couldn't start the day with nothing in her. She raced through the halls of the late students or ones who had already finished breakfast and stopped in front of the Great Hall to catch her breath. She slowly pushed the huge door open and was met by the loud ruckus of voices.

Ginny sat down at the Gryffindor table, quickly taking some toast and buttering it. She ate fast, she didn't have long until her first class.

_Her first class!_

She still didn't have her schedule yet! She scrambled up to her feet and turned towards the head table, running into the one person she was looking for, Professor McGonagall.

"Professor! I need my-"

She stopped as McGonagall already had the piece of paper out, handing it to her.

"Schedule." McGonagall completed her sentence for her. "Good luck, Ms. Weasley." She nodded before heading off with the stack of papers in her hands, searching for the students.

Ginny looked down at her schedule and sighed in dismay. Potions? _Double_ potions? This early?

Ginny got her bag and headed off. She was already running a little late, and even if it was the first day, there was no way Snape would go easy on her.

She sprinted down the halls to the dungeon, and groaned when she saw the door already closed. She was tempted to just turn around and go back to bed, but forced herself towards the door, doing a quick prayer before she opened it and walked in.

"Detention," Snape drawled in a bored tone, not even turning around from the board to look at her.

She sighed and seated herself at the back of the classroom, taking out her books and parchment and beginning to take the notes that had just come on the board. Apparently they were to make some love potion. Great.

"Don't get too settled down, we will be breaking into groups of three. Dumbledore has recommended at least one of the three be from a different house to try and influence _house unity_," He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Dumbledore himself chose the groups. We will be using these groups from now until the end of the school year." He took out a piece of paper and began reading the groups off of the list.

"Finnigan, Goyle, Crabbe. Parkinson, Thomas, Nott. Malfoy, Zabini, Weasley-"

_Weasley!? _Ginny's eyes widened in horror. There was _no way_ that could be right. Why would _Dumbledore_ assign her with them? She had told him herself she had no friends, and now he was trying to kill her by pairing her with _them_?

"_Move_ Weasley, you're in my seat," sneered Pansy, interrupting her from her reverie and shoving Ginny roughly. What was it with people and shoving her lately?

Ginny made a face at her and stood, collecting her things walking slowly towards where Draco and Blaise already sat together at the front of the room. Looks like they left her a seat…in between them both. Oh joy.

She set her things down by her chair and pulled it out to sit.

"Go get the ingredients from the storage room. Blaise can prepare them, you can put them in when the time is right, and _Ill _stir." Draco said before she could be seated.

Ginny didn't waste time arguing. She already had a detention from Snape, and the last thing she wanted was to get points taken away or yet another detention from arguing in his class.

Ginny returned with all the ingredients. She had had to balance them all in order to carry all of them to the desk. She dumped them all onto the desk and sat down as Zabini began to cut, slice, and dice the ingredients at the proper thickness.

Ginny took the Rusted Root and was about to dump it into the now bubbling cauldron when Draco's hand shot out.

"Not yet, Weaselette. You're half a minute early. Honestly, cant you even add ingredients at the right time?" He scoffed and finally motioned to Ginny that _now_ she could add them.

She glared daggers at him but added them anyway.

The rest of the class period continued in much of this manner. Blaise finished his part in silence, which surprised Ginny. Usually he was very lively, but he seemed intent on finishing his work. Ginny added the ingredients, often told off by Malfoy for being a few seconds too early or for adding them the wrong way. How the _hell _do you add something the _wrong way?_

_I swear he does it on purpose. He just irks me!_

And Draco stirred the furiously boiling cauldron at the right time, right pace, exact number of times, clockwise or counterclockwise. Insufferable git.

When Snape had reached their potion he had, surprisingly, commended their work on a job well done and told them to fill a vial, label it, but instead of placing it on his desk, to hold onto it.

They did as they were bid, glancing at one another questioningly. What did Snape have up his sleeve today? When Ginny asked him, he just shushed her and told her to wait until the others in the class had finished with theirs. So they sat in complete silence for about ten more minutes until the rest of the class had completed their potions as well.

When they had all finished, Snape stood at the front of the class, looking into the crowd of curious gazes.

"We will now all test the potions we just made on our partners. This will test the accuracy of the potion. If the test subject reacts as the text says, then you all will receive an Outstanding on your potion. However, if your potion fails to emanate the right response from the test subject, I will decide on your grade from the reactions. Any questions?"

The whole room shook their head. Ginny couldn't believe it! Try out a love potion on one of the three in their group? She didn't think that was such a great plan, and when she looked around the room was confirmed that she wasn't the only one who thought so. But who would reprimand _Snape_? Certainly not her.

"Your group will decide who the test subject will be. Drink the whole vial. I will be around momentarily to grade your group."

Ginny looked from Draco to Blaise and back again. They were both looking at her expectantly. She quickly shook her head.

"There is _no_ way I am drinking that thing," she said in a absolute tone, but when they continued to just stare at her she knew it would be her. _Stubborn jerks._

She sighed and snatched the bottle from Draco's hand, glaring at him in a 'you-will-pay' look. She sniffed cautiously at the bottle and nearly gagged. _She_ had to drink _that_? She shuddered at the thought, but held her nose and gulped it down as fast as possible. Thankfully it didn't taste _nearly_ as bad as it smelled, but it still tasted terrible. So far, she didn't begin feeling any effects what so ever.

She looked over at Draco and Blaise. _Well it could've been worse. I mean, think about it Gin, you could've been stuck with Crabbe and Goyle!_ She shuddered at the thought. _At least you got two of the hottest guys in the school. I mean _look _at them. Look at those lips…._

"Uhm…Weasley? You're getting a bit close," Zabini said, but Ginny wasn't looking. She was getting closer, her eyes wide, staring at his _soft _lips. Her eyes had a sort of glazed look to them and she stared dreamily at him. She lifted her hands and placed them on his thigh. "Cant keep your hands off me, Red? Typical." He laughed and brushed the hand on his thigh with his.

"Zabini." She whispered the name so softly he hardly heard it. Before he could react, Ginny leaned forward and gently kissed him on the lips. He tried to pull away but he felt her arms going around to his neck pushing him closer. "_Soft,_" She murmured before deepening the kiss. Blaise kept trying to pull her away, but…damn she had a good grip. And it's not as if she wasn't utterly shaggable, but he knew it was only the potion acting, not her.

Blaise put one of his arms around her, reaching over to Draco and yanking on him to stop laughing. Malfoy looked at him, still snickering and saw him pointing at Ginny. Apparently he wanted his help to get her off of him.

Draco grabbed Ginny's waist, starting to pull her off of Blaise. Ginny turned around, saw Draco, and immediately let go of Blaise, pulling herself onto Draco's lap and started kissing him too.

She bit his lip, hard enough for him to gasp a quick "ouch" before she slid her tongue into his mouth, exploring it with her tongue. Malfoy tried to push her off of himself, but the only good grip he could get on her to push her away was her chest.

He went with it.

Grabbing her breasts with his hands he started to push her off of him, which made her only tighten her grip more. She started to grind her hips against his, moaning into his mouth.

Draco heard a voice clearing and looked up with eager eyes. Professor Snape stood there with that arrogant smirk on his face. Draco looked at him, his eyes reading "help me".

"Well she certainly seems to have the correct reaction and symptoms. Outstanding for all three of you." Snape turned to leave, but Blaise caught his wrist.

"Professor, what about her?" He asked, nodding his head at Draco who was still valiantly trying to pry Ginny off of him.

"What _about_ him?" He scoffed and turned to leave once more, Draco struggling, eyes wide at that. Professor Snape turned to the other students, many of whom were in the same position as Draco, and some of whom looked completely unaffected, and saying over his shoulder as he left, "The potion should wear off in about an hour."


	3. Of Accidents and Premonitions

_Chapter 3_

_**Disclaimer**__ : Me no own. You no sue._

_**A/N **__: Thanks for the reviews of those who gave them. Constructive criticism is always welcome here ha. I know I'm not perfect with grammar, and my plots can be a bit sketchy sometimes…but it's just what I make it. I know that Love potions are illegal but I liked that idea so I put it in the last chapter anyway __J__. Reviews are greatly appreciated as always. Look at __**Musical Undertones.**_

Why was Ginny always late? Did the fates hate her guts or something? Because there always seemed to be something wrong with her timing.

She had completely forgotten all about her detention with Snape. Of course, something like that is easily forgotten when you find yourself on top of a Malfoy, snogging his brains out…but that's besides the point. Point is, after she went to her dormitory to get changed and wash her mouth out, she finally remembered her detention with Snape that night, and she was already running late.

Well she had a_ great_ start on the new school year.

She dashed down to the dungeons, and wrenched open the classroom door once she reached it.

"I'm so sorry I'm late, Proffes-" She stopped mid sentence. Instead of Snape sitting behind his desk, it was Draco. Why did he always seem to be everywhere she was?

"Malfoy?" She snarled. She turned pink remembering earlier in the evening when she found herself practically strangling him with her arms around his neck and her lips on his. She still couldn't believe she had done that, even if she was under the potions influence. "What're you doing here?"

"Just filling in for Snape. I owed him one anyway, so he asked me to take over his detentions for the evening. Said something about a nasty accident."

Wonderful. She had to spend the next hour or so with the one person she definitely didn't want to be around.

"You're late, by the way."

Ginny just ignored the statement, sighing in resignation. "What do I have to do, Malfoy?"

"Scrub the floor and counters. No magic. The water, sponge, and soap's over there," He indicated with his hand across the room to where a huge bucket full of sudsy water and a sponge as big as her head floated on top. "Get to it!"

She rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe she had to listen to him. He gracefully resumed his seat behind Snape's desk with that classic smirk of his and just watched her. The nerve of him.

She turned her back on him and walked to the counter, taking off her robe and sweater, and rolling up the sleeves of her blouse to her elbows.

"All the counters? _And_ of the floor?" She asked, realization finally dawning on her. This room is _huge. _And she would have to move around the desks to get the wide expanse of stone.

"All of it. Now hurry up, you're wasting your and my time."

She huffed but took his advice. She just wanted to get this over with as soon as possible and with little incident. Its not as if she wanted to be here in the first place.

She took the sponge and dumped it into the soapy water, drawing it back out and sloshing it onto the counter, beginning to scrub. She bent over so she could reach the back of the counter, her shirt raising, revealing the soft, milky skin of her midriff.

Draco watched her from behind. His eyes couldn't help but wander over the little bit of stomach that was showing from her raised shirt, and her nice round a-.

"Malfoy! Stop staring would you? Its making me nervous." She swung her arms around in an exasperated motion. Bad move. She hit the bucket with her arm and it went sloshing down all over her. The bucket magically refilled itself.

She spluttered. She was _soaked_. Cursing under her breath, she shook herself off, and tried to wring out her very white, very _drenched_ blouse…with a black lacy bra underneath, he duly noted. She took out her wand to dry herself off.

"Nuh-uh" Draco said quickly.

" '_Nuh-uh'?_ What do you mean 'nuh-uh'? I'm drying myself off. I'm soaked!" She growled out at him.

Draco couldn't help it. I mean look at her. This beautiful girl, soaked, and all alone in the classroom with him. _Ugh. But she's not just some girl. She's a Weasley damn it! _

"I don't think so. No magic aloud in this room for now. This is your detention, remember?" He could tell Weasley was getting fed up with this.

_No magic my arse._

"Oh really? Well why don't you just try and stop me." She raised her wand, and had half the spell out her mouth when he got up and stormed over to her, grabbing her wand arm before she could cast.

"I said. No. Magic. Aloud," He growled out, intimidating fury in his eyes. Ginny just rolled her eyes and swung around to continue her work, and consequently knocking the refilled bucket over, now completely drenching Draco, herself, and the floor with the sudsy water.

Ginny moved over to Draco getting out her wand. "Oh shit. I totally didn't mean to do that! I'm _so _sor-" She was cut off mid sentence, again, when she slipped on the slick floor, falling forward onto Draco and knocking them both down.

They landed on the cold, wet stone floor with an _oof_. The slytherin gasped for air, it having been knocked out with the fall and the added weight of Ginny on top.

Ginny's chest was in his face, and she was sitting on his torso. Malfoy tried not to grin, covering it with a sneer of disgust and trying to push her off of him.

This only proved to slide a very slick Ginny further down his chest, and she was now straddling his hips.

Ginny's face was now the color of her hair and, Draco noticed, her neck and collar bone were flushing slightly all the way down to where her shirt ended. Draco wondered how far down her blush went. Draco groaned inwardly.

Well, he could just mess with her a bit, get her nerves going. I mean look at her! She was breathing heavily and he couldn't stop looking at the rise and fall of her chest. He could hear her hiccup a little and start stammering, try arrange her thoughts to form a coherent sentence. She was even trembling…but that could've just been because of the cold water. But he liked to think of the other reason she could be trembling.

Draco took the overly-confident approach. "Lord, Weasley. I know Im irresistible but you don't have to _force_ yourself on me. Just a simple please would do." He smirked his insufferable smirk and flipped their positions around. He liked being on top…he was always in control.

Ginny just spluttered. "M-Malfoy? Wh-what're you doing?" She was shivering.

"Just trying to warm you up a bit." He could feel her trembling underneath him, could feel her shaking her slick body on his. Merlin she was sexy.

He slid his hips between her legs and ground his pelvis forward, grinding into her.

She laid there, stunned. Her eyes were wide and she hiccupped from the feel of him pressing down on her, rubbing her. His loud groan snapped her out of.

"What do you think you're doing?" She practically shrieked at him. She wriggled under him, trying to get out from beneath his weight.

Her wriggling only fueled him, and he grabbed her hips for support, still grinding into her. He leaned down and kissed her, eyes fluttering shut.

_He _kissed _her. _

Time seemed to stop for Ginny. She just stayed perfectly still where she was. It was when she felt his tongue prying open her lips that reality slammed down on her. Reality, that she found, wasn't so bad. She couldn't help but shudder at the feel of him. It was such a _good_ feeling.

She tried rationalizing with herself. Tried telling herself that this was _Draco Malfoy_, the boy who had, whenever given the opportunity, bashed not only herself but her friends and housemates. This boy, who she couldn't think of being anything but harsh and cruel, but now found utterly confusing.

This boy who was now utterly desirable.

She didn't care about his name now. All she cared about was the sensations he was putting her body through.

She found herself kissing him back, surprising herself with how much ardor she was kissing him with. She was holding onto him as if her knees would give out at any moment…of course they were already on the floor so that saying doesn't really count here.

She was holding onto him and for that moment every thought of Harry and her friends left her mind. She didn't feel alone anymore. She felt wanted, needed, and she needed to feel that.

She whimpered into his mouth, letting her hands run up and down his back and into his hair, tangling them there with a strong grip. _Oooh. His hair._ It was so soft. Se had hardly realized he had stopped gelling it until now, but she was happy he had. Harry had never made her feel this good. Draco was pure talent.

As soon as it started it seemed as if it was over. She thought she had heard the sound of the potions room door open, but it would've been over looked if not she had heard someone cough. Her and Draco immediately stopped, eyes wide and turned from their positions on the floor to see who was standing at the door.

Blaise stood there in the door way, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed. Ginny would have thought he'd be scandalized, but instead all she saw was his silly grin plastered all over his face.

Ginny sighed, it didn't look as if this was going to go over so well. Not that he was upset about it, but she could foretell now the persistent teasing and joking about it. Seriously, this will probably go on for her whole life. She could see it now, she would be all old and wrinkly, sitting in her old rocker and in he would walk with his cane, point it at her and laugh his old arse off, saying, _Remember that time I caught you and Draco snogging in the potions classroom? _Ugh…she would never hear the end of it.

She saw his grin form into an all out smile, his smile turn into a chuckle and that chuckle turn into a laugh. Not just the _Oh that's funny, lets laugh_ type of thing, but the _Oh my gosh that's hysterical, I think Im going to pee_ laugh. He grabbed at his sides, and slid down the doorway until he was in a sitting position, still chuckling away.

Draco growled at him and pushed himself off of Ginny, who shivered at the feeling of being alone again, not receiving any body heat. She finally, shakily got to her feet, still dripping from her little accident.

_That wonderful accident._

Draco pulled out his wand and dried himself and her off.

"I thought you said no magic?" She said sarcastically. He just rolled his eyes.

"Your detentions over." He sighed as if it really were a loss and magically cleaned the counters and floor.

Blaise's chuckles slowly died down and receded, but he still wore that dopey grin. "Boy, I thought Id never see a Weasley and a Malfoy kiss _willingly_. What has this world come to?" He just laughed. He let out a contented sigh. "I've never seen a better revelation."

"Honestly Blaise, I would hardly call mucking about with a Weasley a revelation," Draco replied in a gruff voice, sending a glare at his best friend.

His words cut her deep. _Mucking about?_ So she was just his play thing? That kiss, that intimacy, didn't mean anything to him? She didn't know why she cared so much. _He is a Malfoy after all. What more could I expect?_

But still, that kiss didn't feel like just a kiss. It felt like his lips were expressing how much he cared for her. There was definitely passion in it, and no matter what he said, she didn't think he could be _that_ good of an actor.

Ginny finally woke out of her thoughts and looked up.

The room was deserted, as the two boys had left without saying another word to her, and she could still hear the laughter of Blaise Zabini ringing in her head.

--

_Ginny stepped back from the sharp grey eyes staring back at her. As he advanced a step, she glanced down, watching her feet and continued to pace away from him, her back eventually hitting the hard stone wall behind her. Her eyes looked up panicked, and she heard herself say to him,_

"_What d'you want?" Her eyes grew in size as he stepped forward, closing the distance between them, eyes boring holes into hers, and noses almost touching. _

_He cocked his head to the side, leaning towards her ear. " Are you afraid of me?" He whispered in a curious, sensuous voice, breathing on her neck. Before she could answer she felt him lean into her and lightly sprinkle soft kisses onto the sensitive skin of her neck. He wrapped his arms around her in a comforting embrace, matting his hands into her long vibrant curls. _

_He began to lick and suck his way slowly down her neck, nipping her flesh to mark his territory, for everyone to know she was his. He made a trail down to her collar bone and stopped right to the top of her tight shirt, making another path of kisses back up, finally reaching her lips. He caught her bottom lip in between his teeth and lightly began to suck and pull on it._

_She swallowed down her groan of passion, and obligingly opened her mouth for his. _

_His free hand rubbed down her side, slipping under her shirt to caress soft circles onto her flat stomach with his calloused hand. He untangled his hand from her hair and brought up her two hands above her head, capturing and leaving them there as his hand beneath her shirt rose farther up. His hand finally reached her bra and he kneaded her softly through it. _

_She groaned in a positive way and ground her hips against him in undulated hunger for his touch. He smiled against her mouth, and reached his hand around under her shirt to the back, unclasping her bra with practiced ease. _

_His hand came back to her breast, rubbing little circles on the hard nipple with his thumb. She moaned into his mouth, yanking one of her hands free from above her head and making her own search of his body. _

_She felt her way down his chiseled, defined chest, stopping when she reached the top of his pants. She attacked his belt, trying to undo it with her only free hand and whimpering when she was having no success with it. _

"_Cant…open…" She gasped out._

_He dropped her remaining hand, and brought it down to undo his buckle. Once the clasp was free, Ginny shooed his hand away and unzipped his zipper. Letting his trousers pool at the ground by his feet, she reached for his boxers and pulled them down, letting them join the puddle of clothing. _

_She softly grabbed his cock, rubbing the head of it with her thumb and finally grasping it all into her hand, squeezing it slightly. He moaned and thrust into her hand, whimpering with each touch she drove him mad. _

_He growled with hunger and impatience he lifted up her skirt and slid her lacy underwear down, supporting her and she stumbled out of the clothing. He pulled her shirt over her head, throwing it over his shoulder and grabbing her breast in his mouth. He lifted her up, and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he pushed her up against the wall._

_She was soaking wet. He placed the head of his dick at her entrance, sliding up and down her, getting well lubricated. She gasped at the feeling of his flesh on hers, the pure sensation of bliss. Getting impatient, she confidently rammed herself onto him. He slid into her, all the way to the hilt. She moaned his name. Grinding his hips against hers, his lips went back up to hers, catching her in a steamy, fierce battle of tongues._

_He slowly pulled out of her, until he was almost completely out, and shoved himself slowly back in, wanting her to feel all of him._

_She matched each of his thrusts with eagerness, increasing the speed until he was pounding in and out her. When she moaned for him to go deeper he complied, thrusting himself in her harder and deeper. _

_He began to feel her walls tighten, barely holding on himself for so long, but knowing she would soon be over the edge. He sped up his thrusts until he felt her walls contacting around him as she screamed his name in pure ecstasy._

"_DRACO!"_

_--_

Ginny sat with her head cradled in her arms, fast asleep in Divination. She was having the most odd, completely _amazing _dream. Unfortunately for her, everyone in the class was aware of that also.

Ever since she fell asleep in this class, her classmates had overheard her mumbling, groaning, even moaning with _Oh's _and _Ah's_. She seemed wrestles.

And as soon as she let out a particularly loud one, everyone in the room became acutely aware of her being fast asleep, including Trelawney.

"Ms. Weasley!" Ginny felt herself being shook roughly awake. Peering up, she found herself looking into the thick glasses of Professor Trelawney. She was just having the most amazing dream….

"Your aura's pulsing dear! Are you in the Beyond?" She asked, pushing her glasses further up her nose and looking down on her with her large, serious eyes. Pulsing indeed, especially after _that _dream. Ginny blushed head to toe but nodded her assent.

"Sure," She stammered, rubbing her hands over her eyes to rid herself of the bags she new must be there.

She couldn't stop thinking about that kiss. It had plagued her all throughout the night and she couldn't get any rest. It bothered her, but not necessarily in a bad way. It was just hard to fathom that he kissed her. And it felt like he meant it, like he wasn't just messing around, but like he cared. _And apparently it's plaguing my dreams too._

She couldn't believe she had had the best dream of her life in the middle of Divination class. _Ha ha, go figure. _At least she could use it as an excuse for sleeping in the middle of class.

"What was it dear? What did you see?" She continued on, waving her hands around in the air.

"Uhm," Ginny stammered. She hadn't thought things through this far ahead. She couldn't exactly tell the truth, now could she?

"A vision, perhaps?" Professor Trelawney encouraged her. Ginny took the bait.

"Of course. Very vivid." She agreed. About what though? Ginny smirked, an idea forming in her head.

"Of what dear?" Trelawney persisted.

"Of the Little Death." She answered calmly. She was certain Sibyll wouldn't pick up on the reference.

"Oh? Indeed, indeed? Who dear? Who did you see die?" She, as always, was interested in anything having to do with someone dying. Old coot.

"Uh…me of course." She turned and looked around the room where everyone was all eyes on her. She saw Draco in the front row, eyebrow raised and smirk on his lips. "And Malfoy," She said. Well, she was technically telling the truth then. The class all turned to Malfoy and back again. Well, it's not as if they'll suspect anything. They are arch enemies anyway.

"Very good! Very good child!" The teacher exclaimed. "Outstanding for you! You truly possess the Sight!" Ginny rolled her eyes when her teacher wasn't looking, and nodded vigorously when she turned back to her.

The class was nearly over, and students were drifting towards the door for when Professor Trelawney would excuse them. She waved her hand at them and they opened the door, dispersing down the many steps to reach the Great Hall for lunch.

Ginny took her time packing her things; she wasn't that hungry anyway. The lack of sleep was getting to her, and she'd rather go take a quick nap now than fall asleep in another class. She wasn't sure the other teachers would take things so lightly.

She made her way out of the door and turned, closing it. Sighing in relief of her current freedom, she began to make her way down the steps when she felt a hand on her arm stop her. She looked up to see none other than the man of her dreams…literally.

"What d'you want?" She asked, her exact words from her dream.

He just smirked. "So, the Little Death, huh?" He asked. Oh no, he didn't know what that meant, did he? Stupid rich kid, probably fluent in French.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Malfoy," She replied. She snubbed him and continuing her decent.

"Don't play dumb, Weasley. I know it's easy for you, but give it up. You know what I meant."

Ginny just rolled her eyes. "Actually, Malfoy, I don't. Now so kindly _remove_ your hand from my arm," She snarled, brushing his hand off her arm as if it was diseased. Sure, his touch made her skin feel as if it were on fire, but she was still mad at him for the other night.

"Oh come on, Red. Little Death. French term for orgasm. Ring a bell?"

Ginny's face turned beet red. Of course it ringed a bell. She wasn't completely lying about her dream to Trelawney, she just thought that no one in the class would catch on.

Draco didn't wait for her to deny it, he just took her silence as confirmation.

Draco quickly pushed her up against the wall, taking both of her hands and pinning it above her head. Talk about Déjà vu. He breathed against her ear, whispering in it,

"So, Weasley, Did we _both_ come your dream?" He asked, pushing his hips against hers. Her eyes widened and all she could do was gape. "Perhaps it was a premonition. Perhaps you really do have the Sight," He said huskily.

He then dropped both of her hands and continued down the steps and out of sight, as if nothing at all had happened.

--

**A/N : **Sorry this one took a while to write, but Ive been busy with 9th grade orientation and orchestra practices and stuff. And sorry there is not more Blaise, but there will be. I had to hurry and type this one up because Im going to be spending the weekend at **ATaintedStarsNightmare's** house. So I probably wont be able to write or update any time soon...unless we decide to have a Writing Party or something. But, if I get more reviews Ill try to update faster :).. _**REVIEW!!**_ :)


	4. Of Stress and Head Boys

**Chapter 4**

**Disclaimer** : Me no own, You no sue.

**A/N **: Thanks a million for the reviews. Keep at it J I want to hear what you all think. Check out **ATaintedStarsNightmare's** story **Musical Undertones**.

Ginny's eyes opened wide, staring straight ahead of her with blank eyes. Her brow was already drenched with sweat even in the chill of the morning. She groaned and turned blindly over, drawing back the curtains of her four-poster bed, looking at her clock. It was way too early to be up and about, the sun had hardly risen over the horizon, peeking out to start a new day. She rolled back over, letting her eyes drift shut momentarily before bracing herself to get up and start her day. She needed to fit in more studying anyhow, and seeing as though she was already up, why not?

She stood from her bed and made her way to the girls lavatory, knocking into the various items strewn all over the messy room. _Ugh…Teens._ She barely glanced at her reflection as she stripped herself of all her clothing.

Fact was, she already knew what she would see if she looked into the mirror. She would see dark bags and the hollow looking eyes of a disgruntled teenager.

She whimpered as she stepped under the heated water, letting her eyes close and she let the water fall around her, soothing her into a better mood. She washed her hair and body, scrubbing furiously at the dark circles that were sure to be forming under her eyes.

Once she was out, she dressed haphazardly, putting her hair in a messy bun before making her way out of the Gryffindor Common Room, directing herself towards the one place she needed to be; the library.

And it's not just because she needed to study that she was going there. But don't get me wrong, she _needed _to study! Everything that could be going wrong in her classes was. She needed this library. No, the other reason she was here was to avoid Draco.

Every minute she could spare was spent in the library. Not only did she study here, it was becoming her safe haven from a very confusing, very irresistible ferret.

It had been over a week since their incident in the stairwell, but wherever she turned, she always felt his piercing gray gaze boring holes into her back. It was completely unnerving. And not only that! Oh no! It was merely the fact that, even though he had plenty of chances to, he never spoke a word to her. Weirdo…hot…sexy weirdo.

So she had taken up residence in the one place she never saw him. The library.

Of course it was so early that Ginny didn't even have to worry about running into him. No one would be up for hours. Ginny sat down at one of the nearby tables, grabbing at her potions text book and opening it to the most recent chapter they'd been learning. Ginny looked over the written words with a blank stare, eyes moving but words going right over her head. She gave up on trying to read and laid her head down on her arms, on the book. She really should be studying. Potions had been her worse class so far.

Even though things had started smoothly enough, apparently all good things must come to and end, and that's exactly what happened.

She was sad to say that Malfoy and Blaise bad been forced to pick up her slack, but they seemed to understand. They didn't say anything if they did at any rate. They just did their parts and helped her if she needed it.

It was just all this stress! She seemed to be drowning in it! Ginny would never admit it, but it was just becoming too much for her. The homework was piling up, along with the need to study. And not only that, but because Ginny had skipped her sixth year, she had been forced to go back and learn everything she had missed. And to do that, she wasn't just giving up her beauty sleep, which she _really _needed, but she was also skipping meals, using the extra time to catch up. Even though she was doing all this studying for her classes, her grades still lowered. Without much sleep it was hard to think, and her classes began going downhill. But at least it took her mind off of her absent friends. Thankfully she didn't have time to think about Harry. Her schoolwork was at least keeping her occupied.

She bit out a groan and raised herself up leaning on the table, tiredly reading the passage.

When breakfast time came around, she skipped, wanting to try and catch up on some things she may have missed, or at least understand them. Reading it over again engrained it into her memory, which was always a plus. Her stomach growled loudly, and she promised herself she'd grab something from the kitchen later. She tried once more to delve into her text.

Time seemed to fly by, (of course that may have been contributed to the fact that she dozed off somewhere along the lines) and before she knew it, she was shoving her books into her bag and racing headfirst into her beginning class of the day; Transfiguration.

This class wasn't bad at least…well not today anyway. In fact, she rather enjoyed herself. She at least she got to take out some of her frustration on the one person who had been bothering her the most.

They were assigned partners, again,(what was it with all the partners? And for once could they not _pick_ the bloody person?) and they were to turn said partner into an animal. Well that was an easy one at least. Ginny didn't even hesitate before turning Malfoy into a ferret, and neither did he when he transformed her into a weasel. Typical. She assumed McGonagall did it on purpose, knowing full well what they would do. They were too predictable.

The rest of the day continued on in such a monotonous fashion. She continued through her classes, doing what she was told but hardly paying the slightest bit of attention with her eyes closed behind her text, drifting into exhaustion.

Lunch rolled around and she made her way, for the second time, to the library. Hoping it to be deserted of all students who were now in the Great Hall. She could never study with a noisy room.

She flinched when she opened the library doors to find Zabini seated at a nearby table. She looked pointedly away from him and sat down at a seat towards the back, hoping he'd been too engrossed in what he was reading to notice her.

No such luck.

He lifted his head and turned, seeing her sitting alone. Grinning, he picked up his stuff and made his way over to her.

"All alone, Red?" He plopped himself down in the chair opposite her, dumping his things on the table.

"Not anymore," she ground out between clenched teeth. She definitely didn't want to deal with Blaise right now. Sure he could be decent at times, but how was she supposed to study when he was here blabbering and cracking jokes all the time? She was _not_ in the mood.

"Geez, Weaselette. What's got your knickers in a twist?" He asked with an amused grin on his face, not fazed in the slightest by her rude tone.

"You know, Zabini, if you keep using that stupid expression, it'll freeze there one day," she said in mock sincerity before raising her book up between them, pretending to read.

"Touchy one, you are." He smirked but began to read as well. Well, at least he shut up for once.

They stayed like that, both absorbed in their studying in companionable silence for the better part of an hour.

Ginny was so absorbed in her text, that she jumped when Blaise shook her shoulder. He already had his things packed back up and his bag shouldered.

"You coming, Red?" When she only raised an eyebrow he sighed. " Potions? Ring a bell?"

Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. She'd nearly forgotten all about it! She'd been so out of it. She hurriedly packed her things and made her way down to the dungeon with Blaise.

"Milady," he said, opening the door for her and giving her a drastically low bow. Ginny just rolled her eyes and walked in, deciding not to comment. As she passed, he reached out and lightly grabbed her backside. She blushed immensely and felt her stomach flutter. That boy was irritatingly sexy, but he was polite and lighthearted, very much unlike Draco. They were opposites. He pulled out her seat for her, bowing again, as if he was her butler. So she sat at her usual spot at the front with Blaise, and they waited until Draco arrived and the class commenced.

This class was the same as every other time; horrible. But this time Snape decided to make it particularly terrible and have a "bit of fun" with her. He had a mucked up sense of humor, that one did. He proceeded to ask her question after question after question, deducting points for every one she missed.

She got them all wrong. _Bloody studying not helping in the slightest._

After his "bit of play time" with her, he told her to see him after class. Great, _just_ what she wanted.

She did as she was bid and stayed as all the others in the room dispersed. Walking to the front of the room, she stood before Snape's desk.

"You asked to see me, Sir?" She might as well be polite, not wanting to give him a reason to give her detention or something.

"Ms. Weasley, your grades have dropped significantly, and as seen today, you're lacking the proper knowledge to be in my class." He paused and glanced at her, she supposed for _dramatic affect._ She scoffed silently in her head. "I understand the pressure and stress you must be under, but even so, I am going to have to ask you to attend tutoring lessons if you wish to remain in my class." He gave her a stern look, raising his eyebrows at her, as if daring her to protest.

Ginny swallowed but nodded her head in assent. "Who am I to be tutoring with, Sir? You?" That's the last thing she wanted, and apparently his as well.

He scoffed. "Of course not! I will _not _have my time taken up by some mindless girl who lacks the required intelligence. No, you will be tutored by your potions partners, Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Zabini. I will inform them of this myself, and they will keep me updated on your progress." He stopped and looked at her, and when she said nothing more he nodded. "They will begin as soon as possible and you are required to meet with them at least four times a week. I better hear something good from them within the next few weeks. If I do not, I will have to seriously reconsider keeping you in my class. Good day, Ms. Weasley."

Well this was just fan-freaking-tastic!

Ginny left the potions classroom in a huff. She had an already overloaded schedule of incessant studying, homework, catching up on sleep and food, and now she had to make bloody room for more stress?

Ginny began to feel nauseous, and wasn't sure if it was acquired from thinking about spending time studying with Draco and Blaise _four times a week_, or the fact that she hadn't eaten in the last few days. That doubled with the lack of sleep made her certain it was the latter.

She began to feel dizzy and lightheaded, her vision growing darker with each step she took. She felt as if she were going to retch or pass out, so she tried to hasten her pace towards the Hospital Wing, but that only caused her head to swim more.

Face ashen, she began to lose consciousness, the ground coming up to meet her as her world went black.

--

Ginny blearily opened her eyes, wincing at the bright sunlight. It must've been midday, and all she could see was white. White walls, white beds, sheets, everything. _Ugh, Infirmary. _

She couldn't really remember what happened. All she remembered was coming out from Potions and collapsing. She didn't even know how she got here.

She shakily got to her feet, knees buckling under her weight. She would have fallen if not Madame Pomfrey had suddenly appeared behind her, steadying her. She ushered her back to the bed, telling her to lie down.

"What happened? How did I get here?" She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the fogginess still obscuring her thoughts.

"Mr. Zabini brought you in dear, earlier this evening. Said he found you in the hallway. You seem to be suffering from exhaustion and stress, and it looks as if you have not eaten in days. It is advised that you stay here, at least until sometime tonight. As you can tell, you are a bit unstable, but that should go away once you have rested more. A house elf will bring you food shortly, dinner is about to begin soon. You need to eat. Once you feel well enough, you may leave, but I don't suggest leaving until you feel completely revived." She pushed Ginny gently back into the pillow, pulling out a glass and pouring something into it. "Drink that dear, it should help with any headache or fogginess. I'll be back to check on you in an hour."

Ginny drank the rather decent tasting medicine and laid back, letting her eyes drift shut of their own accord.

Ginny dozed off, content to drift between consciousness and slumber. She woke when the house elf came with a tray of food, and picked reluctantly at her meal, not wanting to be scolded by Madame Pomfrey later for not eating. Once she was done, she set the tray aside and laid back, starring at the ceiling and mulling things over in her head.

The first thing that occupied her mind was Draco. _Malfoy, Gin. Malfoy,_ She reminded herself wearily. She kept slipping these days. She didn't know what it was with him, but he began worming himself into her thoughts more and more. He was just so _strange._ Very unpredictable at times. The things he did and said just made her head hurt. One minute he could be an arrogant son of a bitch, and the next he could be snogging her senseless. And the way he touched her sent her mind reeling. Who knew anyone could make her feel that way?

That made her mind turn to Blaise. Sure, he seemed more like a friend at times, but he was rather desirable. Just the simple actions he did made her heart beat faster. Unlike with Draco, who's actions were hungry with desire, Blaise was always gentle with her. Of course, she hadn't been with either of them _like that_, but it was just their personalities. She found them both enticing.

Guilt suddenly splashed all down Ginny. What about Harry? What about the boy who promised to come to her, where they could continue where they left off? What about that boy who left her here to defeat Voldemort?

But thoughts of him didn't give her the feeling it used to. Where she used to get goose bumps and butterflies in her stomach at the mere thought of him, now she felt nothing. She felt completely empty when she thought his name or remembered his presence. And when she compared him to Blaise and Draco, he came up short. But what did that mean? Was she interested in them? And even as she thought that, she felt bad. Not only would she be going against her brother and best friends by liking the enemy here, but she would be going against herself. I mean come on, you cant like two people at the same time, can you? And even if she did, she could never be with both of them at the same time.

Just as she thought that, Madame Pomfrey came by, collecting her tray and setting out another potion, telling her it might make her a bit sleepy. She checked some of her vital signs and deemed her fit to go back to her common room, but said it might help it she stayed here another hour or so, letting the drowsiness wear off first. Ginny took her advise, and laid back.

Now this was the life! She had an excuse for not having her homework done and she got to catch up on a little rest and eat. She should get sick more often. She smiled at the thought, and began once again to doze off in some far away dream world.

She could see herself in between two very hot, very nude males, who just happened to have black and blond hair. She let her imagination take flight, imagining being sandwiched between the two. Now _that _was her Heaven.

The hours passed and Ginny didn't stir. Her body lay reclined, and her breathing deep as the sky darkened from the golden's and reds to the deep purples and blues. Shadows descended the Infirmary, shrouding in into darkness. She didn't notice as a petite house elf popped in, beginning to clean the Hospital Wing thoroughly.

She was startled awake when a crash sounded close by. Her breathing was ragged from the start, and she waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness before she peered around her bed. A small house elf stood beside the nightstand at her bed, having dropped and shattered the glass she had been taking her potions out of.

Relieved that nothing bad had happened, she sighed as the elf swept the floor clean and popped out of sight.

Well she was definitely up now.

It must've been well past midnight, but she just wanted to get to her dorm and fall into a deep sleep. She stood up, brushing her hair out of her face and making her way to the door. It was a bit late to be out and about, and if she got caught she would definitely get points taken away or detention and the very least, but she was willing to risk it at this point.

She cringed at the loud squeak the door made when she opened. Damn those hinges, they really needed to be oiled. She closed the door softly, turned herself towards the Gryffindor Common Room, but quickly decided against it. She was hungry again.

Turning around, she followed hallway after hallway down to the fruit painting, and gently tickled the pair. It giggled before admitting her into the kitchen. It was oddly deserted, but then again she'd only been down here during the day. She preferred this actually, it was better than being bombarded by a dozen different house elves, all asking her what she wanted and then reappearing later with trays and trays of food. No, she definitely liked this better.

A lone elf walked over to her and looked up at her with his big eyes. She coughed, clearing her throat and ordered a sandwich and a glass of pumpkin juice. He squeaked in affirmation and ran to go get what she had ordered.

He appeared not long after she had seated herself at one of the benches and she delved into her meal. She munched happily until she was quite full and stood from her perch. The house elf rushed up to her, asking her if she wished for something else.

"No, but could you possibly tell me the time?" She didn't necessarily believe in _spew_, but there was no point in being rude. When he returned he informed her that it was about half past one. Well that wasn't really all that surprising. She thanked him and took her leave.

She walked in a slow leisurely pace towards her common room. She listened at every corner to see if she could hear footsteps or any sign off life. The place was deserted.

When she reached the Fat Lady's portrait she found her snoozing away, and she shook her portrait to wake her. She looked grumpy and upset at having been woken so rudely and late at night. Ginny quickly mumbled the password under her breath. Stepping back from the portrait so it could swing open.

But the portrait remained closed, and the Fat Lady sat there with a smug smile on her face. "Sorry, deary, that's not the password."

"Not the password? Are you kidding? It was that just this morning! Besides, it couldn't have changed so soon, we just got our new password yesterday!" What was she going to do if she was locked out of her own common room?

"Dumbledore made me change it this evening after dinner. Not my problem."

Ginny huffed. Well this was just great. "Hello! Look at me, Ginny Weasley, Gryffindor. Seventh year. I've been coming through your portrait for the past five years! Surely you recognize me! You know I'm Gryffindor! Just let me in!"

"Sorry, cant. School rules. Just because you _say_ your someone, doesn't mean you _are_ the person. No password, no entrance."

Well this was just getting annoying!

Ginny huffed and stormed away from the portrait. Bloody fat cow! Where was she supposed to go now? She was trapped outside of her common room and had nowhere to go!

Still in silent rage, Ginny rounded the next corner with speed…and consequently ran headfirst into someone. She started to fall back before that someone stopped her fall by catching her around the waist and pulling her up into his chest. It all happened so fast she couldn't speak for a second.

Well this was wonderful. She'd been caught way past midnight, almost right outside her own common room entrance. She growled and twisted in the persons hold, (which she conveniently noticed was very strong and firm and he still hadn't let go of her) and looked up to see who was holding her captive.

"Well, well, well. Looks like I've caught a weasel! Now that doesn't happen very often!" She was looking right into the dark gaze of none other than Blaise Zabini. Bloody prick. Always everywhere she was.

He still didn't let go of her, loosely letting his hands fall down to circle her waist. Ginny harrumphed but didn't twist out of his hold. She could feel his defined muscles against her chest and his breath was hitting her ear. Her heart pounded faster, but she didn't dare let him see how he affected her. No need to boost that already enormous ego.

"I got locked out of my common room. Bloody password changed." She felt the need to explain why she was out so late, but didn't bother asking him why _he _was out so late as well.

Ginny sighed when she received no answer and laid her head against his shoulder, feeling tired. That's when she remembered that he was the one who'd saved her. She swallowed down her pride.

"Uhm…thanks, Blaise. You know…for earlier and all."

He smiled and let go of her, beginning to walk with her with his arm around her waist. She didn't know where they were going, but didn't really have anywhere to be or go, so she just let him direct her.

"What was that, by the way? You ok?" Concern glinted in his coal eyes, but he quickly covered it with a small grin.

"Thanks to you I am. Pomfrey said it was exhaustion and stress. How did you find me anyway? I was still in the dungeon and you should've been in your next class."

"I had forgotten something in the Potions room and had to go back to get it when I saw you." He smiled and gave her a playful shove. "Merlin, Gin, you always seem to get in messes, don't you?" She didn't deny it, letting the conversation drop into a comfortable silence.

He stopped in front of a portrait, said a password and it opened up. He stepped through it and motioned Ginny in as well.

"Where are we?" She was so curious. It was a huge room, with a huge comfy looking green bed in it. The whole room was decorated in the Slytherin colors. He had a plush black sofa sitting before a welcoming fire, a desk and bookshelves laden with books.

"My Head Boy room of course," He said with pride.

"Head Boy? I didn't know you were Head Boy. Was that why you were out so late?"

"Among other things," He commented nonchalantly.

"Slytherin pride, much?" She asked, eyeing the room decked out in all green, silver, and black. I mean honestly, so much of those colors was hurting her eyes.

"It suits me," He said in a mock hurtful tone.

"Well this has been great fun and all, but I really should be leaving." She said with resignation.

"And where, exactly, will you be leaving to? If you remember correctly, you don't really have anywhere to stay. You can spend the night here and get the password tomorrow. My bed _is _really quite comfortable." He wriggled his eyebrows at her and looked her up and down.

Ginny huffed. "What, you expect me to sleep in the same bed as you and possibly get raped? I don't think so." She stuck her tongue out at him but sat down on the plush couch.

"You cant rape the willing, love." He smirked at her and sat down beside her, draping an arm across her shoulder. "Besides, I'm sure we can make some sleeping arrangements if you wish. If you want, you can sleep on the floor and leave that big, comfy bed to me." He smiled a genuine smile and stood up, taking his shirt off.

She gaped at him like a fish. Look at that chest! "Wha-what are you do-doing?" She stammered out. _Oh great one, Gin. Stammering like a fool!_

He grinned at her, unbuttoning his pants so they fell around his ankles, leaving him in only his boxers. "What does it look like I'm doing? I getting ready for bed." He said, climbing onto the large, green bed and slipping beneath the sheets. "You coming or what?" He patted the space beside him.

Well there was no way she was missing out on _that_. Ginny looked down at her clothes. "I wasn't exactly planning a slumber party. Do you have something I could wear?" She watched as he untangled himself from the sheets and walked over to his wardrobe, flinging one of his shirts and boxers at her. She thanked him and made her way to the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Merlin, his bathroom! Talk about luxury! He had a huge bathtub, set with jets, she noticed, a shower stall, and a huge sink laden with his things. She changed from her robes and school uniform into the boxers and shirt, and stepped back out from bathroom.

Blaise saw her in his clothes and his eyes widened. Now _that_ was hot! He wanted to eat her up…literally. He groaned and pulled the sheets up higher, hiding his obvious…discomfort.

Ginny smiled and crawled onto the bed, slipping under the covers and sliding over to Blaise. She wasn't one to really cuddle, but it was nice once in a while. He seemed to understand and instantly wrapped his arms around her, flicking his wand at the light so it dimmed and slipping his wand under his pillow.

Wow! The sensations he was putting her body through! She could feel his muscles moved against her back every time he moved to adjust. She shivered, but not from the cold. He laid his head against her cheek and they both closed their eyes.

That's when Ginny remembered all about the tutoring lesson. She should at least tell him before Snape did. Snape really didn't have any tact. "Blaise?" She whispered into the darkness of the room. He mumbled in acknowledgement, and she told him everything that happened with Snape and that he and Draco now had to take up tutoring her.

He just nodded and said, "Ill tell Draco tomorrow, he'd rather hear it from me than Snape. We'll schedule sometime in the evening to meet up with you and begin it."

Then they both closed their eyes and drifted off in each others arms.

--

Ginny awoke to the feeling of an arm draped across her stomach, and a deep masculine scent. She sighed happily, inhaling deeply, and opened her eyes to find a shock of green everywhere she looked. The sunlight was streaming in through the one big window that overlooked the grounds, and she squinted slightly at the light. She groaned and turned around to look over at Blaise.

Now _that _was cute. He looked so peaceful just laying here snuggled up close to her. He must of felt her shifting around because he wrinkled his nose and slowly opened his eyes, wincing at the harsh assault of sunlight.

Ginny smirked and wriggled herself closer to him, feeling his strong, protective arms tighten slightly around her. He buried his face into her hair, inhaling her scent and nipping at her neck.

Now that she was _not _expecting. She was stunned into silence but smiled once she regained her composure. She felt his teeth graze her skin and shivered. Sighing happily, she let him continue his trail of hot kisses until he made his way to her mouth. Where Draco had demanded entrance with hungry, hot kisses, Blaise was gentle, slowly licking at her lips and content to suck on her bottom one. She sighed into the kiss, letting the light atmosphere surround her and drifted off in happiness. She was content to just lay there, doing nothing more than kissing him back.

This was exactly what she needed. She was feeling much better than the day before, having had eaten and actually slept for the first time in days. She felt utterly rejuvenated.

He finally sighed and pulled back, looking at her with eyes that sparkled in the sunlight. He glanced at the clock hanging on his wall and did a double take.

"Breakfast is almost over, guess we slept in too late." He reluctantly got up, shaking his head to get his black, unruly hair out of his eyes. "Ill be in the shower, you can get in after me if you want," And he disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door. She heard the water running and stood as well, taking a closer inspection of his room.

It was neat, but not in that _no one's lived here in years_ sort of way. It was welcoming, and showed presence. She liked that. She sat down on the couch in front of the fire, gazing longingly into it. She wished she were like fire, free and untamable. She sat watching the flames engulf the fire wood and lick around the stone, turning it black. She sat there for the longest time and was only pulled out of her reverie when she heard the bathroom door open, turning to see Blaise in only a towel.

She swallowed and stood, picking up her pressed and cleaned clothes (she assumed that was the house elves) and made her way into the bathroom. She stepped into the shower and cleaned up right nicely. She was still a little sore from the previous days events, but all in all she was a sight better. She changed into her clothes, drying her hair with a spell and stepping out of the bathroom.

"Merlin Blaise, I'm in love with your shower. I would come here all the time just to use that," She said in a playful manner, gathering up her things and walking towards the portrait hole.

He followed close behind her and out into the hall. "You can come here anytime you want, love" He said, winking at her. She blushed but nodded, accepting his invitation.

They walked silently to the kitchen, and quickly grabbed something to eat before heading back out to their first class of the day. Once they reached the door, before she opened it he spoke up.

"I'll tell Draco about our little tutoring thing, and we'll meet you in the library for your first lesson after lunch when we have a free period. Might as well get them started." She nodded and they both entered the classroom and sat at their respective places for class to start.

Throughout the classes leading up to lunch, Ginny had butterflies in her stomach. Not only would she be spending time with Blaise, but Draco as well. Two of her favorite people in the castle right now. She grinned and hurried through class after class, impatient at having to wait.

When lunch arrived, she entered the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table, sneaking peeks over the students heads at Blaise and Draco. Blaise caught her eye and winked at her, making her blush before he turned away from her at something Draco said. They were definitely a pair, they were.

She saw them get up and make their way, presumably, to the library. She grinned and stood, ran up to the Gryffindor Common Room, (she finally got the password from Colin) and made her way back down to the library.

When she opened the door she didn't see them. The library looked completely empty except for herself and Madame Pince. She smiled at the woman and made her way around bookshelf after bookshelf, keeping her eye out for them.

She heard a groan from somewhere the next aisle over, at the back of the library. Interest peeked, she rounded the corner and immediately stopped in her tracks.

There, at the very back of the library, up against the shelves, she found Draco and Zabini in a very compromising position, very ignorant of her presence and indulging in a very heated kiss.

--

**A/N** : Sorry for the cliffy haha. Well I think im going to take my time updating the next chapter...but you know how it goes, more **_REVIEWS!!_** will help me update faster :) I want to know what you thinked about this chapter. I want your thoughts, concerns, critiques, and ideas. GIVE THEM TO ME PEOPLE!!


	5. Of Confrontations and Hogsmeade Trips

**Chapter 5**

**Disclaimer:** Me no own. You no sue.

**A/N:** Thanks to all those who reviewed. Sorry it took so long to update, I've been with my dad for the past week and he doesn't exactly like me reading or writing these things. Plus I've been busy at Bush Gardens, so I've been all over the place. Check out **ATaintedStarsNightmare's** story, **Musical Undertones**.

Ginny couldn't believe her eyes. She just stood there, gawking at them. She never in a million years would have thought she'd see two of Hogwarts sexiest, most definitely masculine students making out. She didn't even know what to think. A hundred different thoughts were bombarding around through her head.

_I thought they were straight!…. They didn't act…fruity. Great word, fruity…. I knew they were too close to begin with…. Those books look really uncomfortable and are digging right into Draco's back. He doesn't seem to notice though, or mind. I never thought Blaise would be the one in control…. How long have they been together? Are they even together? Is this the first time it's happened? They are really getting into it…. This is just _weird_!_

Amongst all of her thoughts, there was one that kept drifting through her head, popping up amongst her various questions and statements, all jumbled as she watched the two continue their constant onslaught of battling tongues. And that thought was the only one that was continually bouncing around her mind, and the only one that really mattered to her. _That is __**hot**__!_

She stood there, watching intently as Draco flipped their positions, now pinning Blaise against the bookshelves. The blond ground his hips forward, causing Blaise to cry out in pleasure. Merlin, that sound! She finally shook her head, closing her mouth that had been hanging open since she stumbled upon them.

She longed to speak up, cough, anything to get their attention, for them to know that she'd seen them, but she didn't want them to stop. She felt wrong just standing there, watching them when they didn't know she was there. She felt like she was intruding, invading a very private moment. She decided to back up, to leave before they noticed she was there. She spun around fast to turn and ran straight into one of the many towering bookshelves, jolting it. Most of the books toppled over and out, hitting Ginny and knocking her down. The noise was loud enough to send even Madame Pince, who was on the other side of the library, running towards them. She squeezed her eyes shut, cursing under her breath. _Smooth move, Gin._ There was no way she was going to open her eyes. She'd rather stay crushed under the books piled on top of her than get up and receive the humiliation coming from both being crushed and from witnessing that wonderful sight.

She felt someone removing the books from on top of her, and she felt a strong grip around her arm, hauling her to her feet. She very slowly cracked one eye open to peer at the person holding her. Draco's mercury eyes stared at her somewhat in amusement, and partially in shock. _Well I'd be shocked too if I had my snogging session interrupted by some pea brain, hormonal chick ramming herself face first into a bloody bookshelf._

She balanced herself, now opening both eyes and blushing brightly, but he didn't let go of her arm. She saw Madame Pince come around the corner, her eyes going wide as she saw the huge mess that Ginny had made, shrieking in outrage. She glared hatred at the three, bending down and started picking up the books with care, placing them back on the bookshelves in the order they were originally in. Ginny didn't know why she cared so much, they were just books. If anything she should be worried about the students. They could've been crushed under the huge tomes. Well, she had been, but that's not the point. She should've cared more for their safety than some daft books.

Her, Blaise, and Draco stood and watched as she continued putting them away, not offering to help in the slightest, just watching her huff and puff, straining herself by putting the heavy books on the highest shelf. Once they were all put away, she turned, whispering a spell at the bookshelf in which a thin protective barrier blocked them from reaching it. Figures. Then she turned around and left, going back to the front of the library and busying herself by sorting books and putting them in their proper places.

Ginny coughed a little, hesitantly turning towards Draco, who still had a hand on her arm, and Blaise who had positioned himself behind him. They both had their eyebrows raised and their signature smirks in place. Her cheeks tinged pink again, remembering how she had found them, backed against the bookshelves. That had momentarily slipped her mind when the books crushed her. No big deal, though.

She turned and pointed a finger at the exit, "I'll just be-," but was cut off when Draco and Blaise simultaneously shook their heads.

"You're not going anywhere. We've got to teach you a thing or two for potions remember?" Draco slowly, albeit reluctantly, released her arm, a smile on his lips. He pulled out the chair of a nearby table and gently shoved her into it.

"Yea, plus I think we need to discuss…something," Blaise agreed before he and Draco took the seats opposite her.

The boys exchanged glances, and Draco nodded at Blaise for him to continue. He coughed a little, looking more than a little nervous and awkward. "Uhm, how much exactly did you see?" He raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to answer. Ginny thought that over. Well, she could just pretend she didn't see anything, and deny all accusations, or she could be open and honest and admit she'd seen quite a lot and had stood there gawking at them while they were completely oblivious to her presence. She wanted to go with the former, but didn't want to lie either.

"Enough," She admitted. Blaise looked about to speak again, but she beat him to it. "You don't have to explain anything, you know. It really doesn't matter. I wont tell anyone about what I saw. Honest." She wished he would have just went with that, giving up any awkwardness at having an explanation, and that they could continue on with their tutoring, but he seemed not to be deterred.

"I know I don't, but I want to. You should know."

"There's not much to explain! You snogged. You're pixies. End of story. What else could there be to tell me?" It made all logical sense to her really. I mean, it's not as if it was some complicated concept.

"I'm insulted!" Draco turned towards her. "I am _not_ a pixie! Just because I snog a guy doesn't mean I'm gay, or any of that rot. _I_ happen to like girls very much, thank you!"

Ginny didn't know what to think. For the second time that day they had rendered her speechless, which was not an easy feat. So they make out, but they're not gay? What type of sense did that make? None at all, that's what! Were they just randy and looked for a bit of attention? Because if that was the case, she would have gladly offered herself up as bait. Hell, there were tons of girls at Hogwarts that would. So were they lying to her when they said they weren't…fruity, or were they telling the truth?

She didn't know what to say, so she followed her train of thought into her sentence. "Is that even possible? I mean, you definitely looked as if you were enjoying it, and no straight guy would enjoy that, would they? This doesn't make _any_ sense what-so-ever." She sighed in exasperation, rubbing her hands over her eyes in an attempt to rub the weariness away, and the problem away with it. "Why, in Merlin's name, would you kiss a guy if you're not gay?" She slapped the table in confusion. The more burning question on her mind was why had they kissed her if they had each other? Was she always going to be just some plaything? Would she ever mean anything more to people? Where did she come into play in all this?

Now it was Blaise's turn to sigh in exasperation. "Ever heard of bisexuals?"

"Of course I have! But you guys just seem so…so…manly." _Great way of putting that, Gin._

"Are you questioning my masculinity, Red?" Draco growled out in playful anger. Ugh, this was just getting out of hand. How could they expect her to understand everything when _everything_ was just so bloody confusing? They kissed her, they kissed each other, and they claim they're bisexual. So where did this put Ginny? Did they honestly like her, or were they just using her for their own satisfaction? "If I remember correctly, you weren't questioning it last week during your detention when I had you down on the ground, moaning like Myrtle." He chucked when she turned red to the tips of her ears. Why did they always have that affect on her?

"Oh, so you remember that pleasant run in, do you? Then why the _bloody hell_ were you kissing him?" She asked, her voice rising. He quirked an eyebrow at her.

"We've always been together, Blaise and I. We're like brothers, but closer. We've been best mates since we were really young. I've been there for him when times have been hardest, like when his dad died. And vise versa, he's been here for me when I need him for my-" He stopped, seemingly remembering who he was talking to. Ginny wondered what that was about, but figured she'd wait to ask. He slyly covered it, continuing on as if nothing happened. "I also kissed him and you the same reason _you_ kissed both of us; because I like you both." He answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She didn't know how he knew about her and Zabini, and quite frankly, she didn't really care. All she knew was that all of this was too bloody confusing and she didn't know how she felt about all this, or even how she should react to that. She turned to look at Blaise, eyebrows raised, silently asking him the same question.

He nodded to Draco. "What he said."

"Great, so we all like each other, but what does that all mean? What are we, just one great big threesome or something?" She said the last bit sarcastically, but saw their eyes flash in approval and smirks adorned their features.

"Sounds good to me." Blaise smirked, leaning over the table and brushing a loose strand of her red hair behind her ear, winking at her. She was terribly confused by all this information that had attacked her in such a short amount of time, but didn't exactly find it unpleasant. I mean, come on; if she wanted, she could have two of the best looking guys in school, which every girl, including herself, longed after. Not only that, but she could have them both at the _same time._ God really did love her!

She blushed when she noticed that they were both starring at her, waiting for her to do or say something in reply. Ginny didn't really need to think it over. She nodded in approval and Draco chuckled his assent. This was really turning out to be and amazing day.

"Time to study!" Blaise cried happily. _And the moment is ruined. _Ginny groaned and laid her head in her hands.

"But I hate potions! Cant we just wait till tomorrow or some other time?" She begged, jutting out her lip a little into a pout and widening her eyes. "Pwease?"

They both sighed and she smiled secretly in triumph, knowing they would give in. Draco pushed out his chair, pulling Blaise up with him and pulling him into a rough, quick kiss. He pulled away after a second and grinned ruggedly at him before moving to Ginny's side. She extended her hand and he bowed above it, bringing his lips down on her hand to caress it with his soft mouth, before pulling her up as well. "Well, come on, let's go," He said, directing them towards the door.

Ginny's pout turned real this time, and pulled back from him. "What, no kiss for me?" But she didn't give him time to reply, because as he turned back to her she lightly pushed him against a bookshelf, standing on her tip-toes and closing the distance between them. She shivered as he brought his hands down to her hips to hold her in place. He always had that affect on her, leaving cold trails behind everywhere he touched her.

"We'll have enough time for that later, but we've got to be at our next class in ten minutes, so let's go," Blaise said, interrupting their kiss and dragging them apart. If he hadn't done that, Ginny wasn't so sure they would've made it to their next class on time. All three of them walked out of the library, Ginny in the middle with both boys' arms around he waist, looking completely content.

--

Ginny was in a great mood that whole week. She spent most of her time with Blaise and Draco, and when they were together in front of people, she often caught the envious glares from the female occupants of the school with glee. She ate with them, usually in the kitchen, often studying and doing homework with them in Blaise's head boy rooms, and tutoring with them four times a week. All in all, she would say she was pretty happy. Their relationship wasn't really out in the open, or she knew she would be receiving more glances, not to mention the Gryffindor's would go absolutely mad. No, they tended to stay away from crowds, except for in the halls between classes when they would walk together, but no one noticed the hidden kisses and looks they gave each other.

Not only did she have the good aspects of a relationship, but they were also becoming close friends too. It seemed as if through that one week, they had gotten closer than ever. They were hardly ever apart, and normally, where she would have usually gotten annoyed at all the attention, she was rejoicing in it. Besides, she didn't have anyone else to talk to or hang out with. They were her only friends here.

Plus, they had just asked her to come with them to Hogsmeade on the upcoming trip this weekend. She was excited to finally be able to spend time with them out side of school.

Ginny also rejoiced in it being Friday. No more school work for the weekend. No more endless studying. Just her and her nice comfortable bed for the whole night. She had promised to meet the boys at the Entrance Hall around noon. She was definitely taking advantage of the weekend.

Ginny had just walked through the portrait hole to her common room after finishing her later dinner with Draco and Blaise in the kitchen, and she was happy to just plop down in a comfy chair in front of the fire. She was happy to just sit back, relax, and stare into the flames, letting her thoughts take control of her for once.

For the first time in days she thought of her friends off looking for horcruxes. She desperately wanted to know if they had found anything, got any clues or were having any success at all. She hadn't heard a single word about them, not anything but the rumors in the paper. It seemed as if they had vanished off the face of the Earth. All she knew was that Harry wasn't dead. If he were, there would be no hope at all. She didn't feel for Harry in a romantic light anymore, but he had always been there for her. She felt bad, dating his enemies, but wouldn't stop either way. She just hopped that if her, Draco, and Blaise actually lasted that long, that he, Ron, and Hermione wouldn't hate her for it.

_Doubt it. _Knowing them, they and her whole family would probably disown her before she could even blink. They never associated with Malfoy's or Zabini's. Hell, her father and Draco's were like arch enemies or something. Things would never blow over well.

She hated to think about it, but once Harry had found the last of the horcruxes, the finally battle would be on them in a heartbeat. She couldn't even fathom what would happen. The Dark Lord was strong, and Harry was still just a boy. The only reason he had really stayed alive this long was luck, and when it came down to it, it would take a lot more than luck to defeat Voldemort. But at least Draco and Blaise would be on their side…or would they? Sure they were Slytherins, but they weren't _evil _by any means…or so she liked to think. Maybe she'd bring the prospect of war up to them sometime.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Neville, who sat down in a chair beside her. She hadn't spoken to hardly anyone in her house since she'd arrived, which made her feel terrible. Neville, and admittedly many others had been quite nice to Ginny, and even if they were never really close, they always accepted her. That may have been because her and Boy Wonder were together, but still.

She noticed Neville looking at her from the corner of her eye, but when she turned to him, he quickly looked away. She turned back to the fire, and felt his eyes on her once more. Sighing, she turned to him, and when he tried to turn away, she called out his name.

"Neville? Is there something you wanted?" He turned scarlet and began stammering incoherent words under his breath. "Uhm, Neville? I can't hear you. Speak up." She was beginning to get irritated by the boy. Maybe she had been spending too much time with the Slytherins after all.

"I-I was wondering if you would l-like to go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow, Gin." He flushed but didn't look away from her this time.

_Great. Blubbering Buffoon Boy likes me. _Ginny felt immediately bad about thinking that. He was just trying to be nice.

"Sorry, Neville, but I already promised some friends I'd go with them. Maybe another time?" She didn't actually mean to fulfill the last bit, but hoped it would make him feel better anyway.

"Yea, another time. But what friends, Gin? You haven't spoken to anyone in ages. Nobody's seen you with anyone." His doubt was clearly evident in his voice.

"Oh, they're from another house. I've been hanging with them lately." Well, she wasn't exactly _lying_.

"Oh, alright." He sighed, but didn't ask what house they were in, probably already figuring they were in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Go figure. "Well I'm going to bed. Maybe I'll see you there tomorrow." He threw her a small smile and she nodded, and he then climbed up the stairs to the seventh year boy dormitories and out of sight.

_Well that hadn't been exactly terrible, at least._

Ginny began to feel her weariness kicking in and, letting out a huge yawn, decided it was about time to go to sleep herself. She climbed to her dorm, changed into a large shirt and crawled into bed, anticipating the day to come.

--

Ginny woke up with a groan, rolling over and trying to shut the annoying buzzing sound out of her head. She rolled over, squeezing her eyes shut and pulling her pillow over her face, getting as much between her and the constant ringing as possible. She sighed into the pillow at the muffled sound, and started to doze off back to sleep when one of her room mates pulled back her hangings and shoved Ginny roughly awake.

Groggily she sat up, wincing at that _terrible sound._ "What d'you want? And what the bloody hell is that sound?" She asked a little too harshly to the obvious bedraggled girl.

"It's called your alarm clock. And its been going off for ages!" The pointed over her shoulder and, leaving Ginny's curtains open, crawled back into her own bed.

She rose her eyebrows to no one in particular, looking at where the girl had indicated. She rolled out of bed, slamming her fist down on her alarm clock, shutting it off and promising to discard the thing as soon as she could. Well at least she was up bright and…late? Late!

The clock read five past twelve. _Shit! I must've set it for twelve instead of eleven! _Whereas she would normally just run down there as fast as she could, she couldn't go without taking a shower and getting dressed. She wanted to look good for Draco and Blaise while they were in Hogsmeade.

_Hogsmeade!_ The thought made Ginny's stomach do a flip. Not only could she finally get away from these claustrophobic walls, but she got to spend the time with the two people she wanted to see most. Smiling at the thought, she hurriedly climbed into the shower. Scrubbing furiously to get herself clean, she rushed through the rest of her shower, which she usually took her time in.

One she was sure she was nice and clean, Ginny reluctantly got out of the shower with a sad sigh. She really did love showers, especially during times like these when she woke up in a huff. She was _not _a morning person. She never had been and highly doubted she ever would be. Her fellow Gryffindors usually knew to stay away from her when she just woke up, or they might find a very nasty hex sent their way (as had happened on a few occasions).

Ginny bent down beside her trunk, still in her towel, and began looking for something suitable to wear. She didn't want to look like a wreck in front of them, but the more that she searched, the more she found it was utterly hopeless. There was nothing spectacularly eye-catching. She rummaged through the various clothing until she gave up on anything really remotely decent and put on some tight-fitting, worn jeans that rested low on her hips, and pulled on a dark green sweater, which her mum had made for her. It was actually kind of small; she hadn't noticed how much she had grown in certain areas. The sweater, which usually ended where her jeans began, now stopped an inch or so above them, showing her midriff.

She sighed, looking at herself in the mirror, but decided it was the best she could do for now. She quickly dried her hair and left it to tumble down her back in loose curls. She was already way late, so she quickly brushed her teeth and hastened herself out of the dormitory and made her way down to the Entrance Hall.

She slowed her pace as she rounded the corner, the great double doors in sight, and leaning against the wall beside the doors stood two very handsome Slytherins. They were both wearing plain jeans and close fitting black tees. _Aww! Their matching! _She couldn't help but grin at that, but refrained from saying it in front of the two; wouldn't want to bruise their extremely large egos.

Draco was tapping his foot impatiently, Blaise looking thoroughly amused at him, before spotting Ginny walking towards them. "Ah, so Red finally decided to join us then?" He smiled, not seeming irritated at all. _Well that's Blaise for ya._ He rarely got mad, which was a good change from Draco.

Rolling her eyes, Ginny grabbed both of their arms and lugged them out the door. She didn't offer up any information as to why she was late, and they didn't ask. That's one quality of their relationship she loved; they never crowded her and never pestered her for information. If she wanted to talk, they were all ears, but they didn't nag her for explanations about everything like Harry and Ron did.

Their walk fell into a comfortable silence, Ginny in the lead and the two boys walking infuriatingly slow. They had plenty of time, and no reason to rush, but she was looking forward to all the wonderful stores and smells of Hogsmeade. And their food. _Lord their food!_ She was on the right side of starving by now.

She quickened her pace as she saw the start of the stores just around the bend. She jogged to the beginning street of Hogsmeade, her eyes glinting. Merlin, she had missed this place _so much._ She turned around, her smile dropping from her face and turning to a scowl as she saw how far back they both were. _Gits. Think they're all royalty and can take however long they want. _They were still pulchritudinous though. That she could never deny.

"Come on, slow pokes!" This earned her two pairs of raised eyebrows and a scoff from Draco for using the muggle term. She saw Blaise hurry his pace, but Draco, if possible, slowed his down even more.

When Blaise reached her, he apologized for "his tardiness" in a very un-sorry tone.

"Oh, I'll make you sorry," she promised, raising a threatening finger at him and poking him in the chest. "You just wait. I'll remember this forever."

"How 'bout I make it up to you? Lunch?" Ginny turned her head away from him playfully, harrumphing and turning her nose up at him, but at her growling stomach he laughed. "Lunch it is."

Draco _finally _made it to them and Ginny got on him. "And what took you so long, Master Ferret? Couldn't get your scrawny legs to move quicker?" He scowled at the name and flicked his long, platinum bangs out of his eyes

"What, and mess up my hair? I think not!" Ginny snorted.

"Well _we're _going to eat," She indicated to herself and Blaise, "You may choose to join us if your little ferret legs can carry you faster." And with that, Ginny grabbed hold of Blaise and, head held high, marched into Hogsmeade.

The corner of Draco's mouth twitched as he tried not to smile. Man, she could be insufferable sometimes. But at an alluring glance over her shoulder back at him he shrugged and hurried his pace to match hers.

They walked through Hogsmeade, passing stores and random shops, Ginny sometimes pressing her face up against the glass at some item or another that was particularly enticing. They marched through street after street until Blaise and Draco both stopped outside of a French restaurant. Glancing at them, Ginny continued on.

"What, Red? Not even coming to your own special treat?" Blaise smirked at her, pointing at the building.

"Are you kidding me? That place is _way _too expensive. I was just planning on going to the Three Broomsticks or something."

Draco snorted. "When a man likes a woman very much, he takes her out to eat someplace expensive," He said very slowly, as if talking to a particularly dense person.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. You want to spend loads of money on me for lunch, be my guest." She walked by them and to the doors, stopping to look back at them when they didn't immediately follow. "What? Not even coming to your own special treat to me?" She mimicked from earlier, and walked through the doors, hips swinging.

Once they were all seated and given refreshments, Ginny browsed the menu. Everything, _everything_, was expensive. Even just buying some fish and chips or hamburger was ridiculously overpriced. Of course, those were the cheapest things on the menu. Ginny didn't want to be too picky and try some of the pricier, elegant, for-the-rich, foods. Most of them she could hardly pronounce and she didn't have a clue what they were. That's why, when the server came around for their orders, Ginny ordered a plain hamburger, the cheapest thing on the menu.

Draco and Blaise looked at her as if Voldemort himself was standing right behind her, making kissy faces and…_smiling._ "You're kidding right? Well I'm insulted. I take you to a perfectly nice restaurant and you cant even order something _decent?_" At that, Ginny instead searched the menu and ordered the most expensive thing there was.

Smiling an innocent smile, Ginny bashed her eyelashes at him. Hell, she didn't even know what she'd ordered! Everything here was written in French, and although she knew a few things in that language, she definitely wasnt fluent in it, as she was sure these two were.

While they were waiting for their food, Ginny decided to strike up the lacking conversation. "So, how can you even afford all of this? I knew that the Zabini's and Malfoy's were pretty well off, but I didn't know they were that wealthy!"

"My dad died a couple years ago, and most of the money was passed to me as I'm the only male heir. And "pretty well off" is a definite understatement. I could buy this whole restaurant, Hell this whole street, if I wanted to and it wouldn't even put a scratch in my bank account."

Ginny decided to skip the money part. "Your dad died? I'm so sorry. I don't think I could ever stand it if my dad died. Were you two close?" She yearned to find out more about this mysterious boy. They talked and all, but nothing really of their pasts. That was more of a private matter that they didn't delve into often.

"Don't be, we've never been close. He was always a supporter of Voldemort, and pressured me into it. I don't care much for Voldemort, to me he's just some deranged snake man that likes to go around having fun with offing people. Not really my idea of an interest. I didn't mind that he died, I saw it coming anyway. Anyone who joins him puts their life in the hands of some lunatic, which is just daft." He glanced meaningfully at Draco for a moment, who rolled his eyes and stared boringly at his elegant hands.

Ginny would've asked what that look was for, but just then something hit her. "So you mean to say your on Dumbledore's side?" She was happy at the prospect. She wasn't really close to anyone else that was at Hogwarts…. That may have been because these two boys were the only two she was close to….

He laughed at that. "I'm no more fonder of that old bat than Voldemort. I don't choose a side but my own. I could really care less who wins this damned war. Just call me neutral." Ginny's hopes died in her stomach, but at least he wasn't for her enemy. She'd rather him be neutral than that.

They stopped talking when their meals magically appeared on their plates in front of them. She definitely wasn't expecting _that_. Her plate was full of what looked like…_snails?!_

She nearly gagged when she saw that, just staring at her plate in awe with her mouth hanging wide open as both Slytherins laughed their arses off. _No wonder they didn't say anything when I ordered. _

"I didn't know you like Escargot, Weaselette." Draco said with contempt.

Ginny closed her mouth as the odd smell hit her nose. Crinkling it she looked up to see both Draco's and Blaise's plates had large well done, mouth watering steaks on them. She scowled.

"Just a joke, Red." Blaise laughed and waved his wand at the plate, which instantly reappeared to be what they had ordered. Ginny had almost lost her appetite. Almost.

So after they ate, Zabini making Ginny and Draco give him a kiss for thanks, they headed out along the long street of shops. They went into HuneyDuke's, grabbing some assorted chocolates and fudges that they began to chew on as they made their way in Hogsmeade (Draco telling them to save them for some fun later). They continued to weave between shops with little incident, until Ginny let out a giant gasp and pushed herself up flat against the nearest shop's window.

The boys exchanged glances before walking to her. Prying Ginny away from the poor window, Draco finally saw what she was looking at. In the window, on top of a magical manikin (which winked at Draco and Blaise suggestively) was wearing a cute low cut, low resting black school skirt with golden thread weaved throughout it, and a V cut, tight school blouse. A beautiful robe flowed down the manikins body, clinging and showing off her curves instead of drowning her in it like most school robes. Its color, where usually black, was a swirling mix of green so dark you could hardly distinguish it from the black. Like the skirt, golden thread was inlaid in the sleeves and hem of it.

Draco and Blaise escorted her into the shop, a locally well known designer shop. Ginny had always adored their stuff, but she hardly dared to glance at it, knowing she could never afford anything from there. Her eyes widened as Draco and Blaise yanked her through the doors.

"Wha-what?" She questioned. Her eyes went wide as she saw Draco reach for a store worker and motion to Ginny and the outfit in the window. "No! That's way too much!" She started to turn around and leave the shop, but Blaise kept a hold of her arm, refraining her from leaving.

Draco came back over to them, waiting as the lady went to retrieve the outfit. He saw Blaise restraining Ginny and rolled his eyes.

"Stop trying to be modest, Weaselette. We all know you want it, and we _all_ know you need it." He indicated to the clothes she was wearing. He let out a sigh and when he saw her eyes narrow and the hurt look on her face. "Just let me get them for you. You could use them. In fact, get whatever you want from here." She knew this was his way of apologizing, but she didn't want to take his charity.

Draco turned to the lady who had just returned. "Get her fitted. Give her any-" Ginny watched as he stopped in the middle of his sentence, grimacing and grabbing his left forearm. She raised her eyebrows at his obvious pain, and bit her lip in worry.

As soon as it had come, it passed. He carefully schooled his expression into one of blank boredom.

"Give her anything from here that she wants. She needs a whole new wardrobe. Put it all on my tab." He turned away from the woman and looked at Ginny and Blaise. "Make sure she gets that wardrobe. She needs one," He instructed Blaise, who eyed him but nodded. "I just remembered I've got to go get some things for a friend. I'll meet you back at Hogwarts tonight."

He pulled Ginny into a brief abrupt kiss, his hand falling to the small of her back. When he pulled away he turned to Blaise, giving him a chaste kiss on the cheek and a heart melting smile before walking out the door and down the street with purpose in his stride.

--

Ginny had been dumbfounded when he left, but quickly forgot all about the little incident when the lady had drawn her aside and measured her. The woman brought out robe after robe after robe, along with many dresses and casual wear. She didn't listen to Ginny's protests, and even seemed to take pleasure in forcing her into clothes like a child.

Even so, Ginny had relented to the clerks and Blaise's persuasion and loosened up a bit to enjoy herself.

The rest of the day at Hogsmeade was quite delightful. Once she had her new wardrobe sent to her dorm room at Hogwarts, she stopped by a store to get her seventh year materials that she had to go without. And after a quick butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks, her and Blaise had made their way back up to the castle in time for dinner. She hadn't spoken to Draco since he left the shop. She saw him during Dinner, but didn't want to go over the Slytherin table and attract attention.

It was the next morning, and Ginny was making her way down the almost empty halls to breakfast. She was fully attired in one of her several new outfits, head held high as she opened the double doors to the Great Hall. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the platinum blond hair of Draco, and without thought, she made her way across to the Slytherin table and plopped herself down in-between him and Blaise. She grabbed a plate and began to fill it up with food, not noticing the odd stares people were throwing her way and the whispers that had now filled the Great Hall.

"Well yesterday was nice," She said, smiling over at Draco. At least she was in a good mood. "It would've been better if you hadn't have run off like that. Did you get everything you needed?"

"Yea, and I would've come back but I had to send something to that friend of mine." Ginny nodded in understanding, not bothering to ask why he left in such a hurry and what that pain was. He probably wouldn't tell her anyway.

Their conversation was interrupted by a screeching Pansy Parkinson, who appeared across the table from her, Draco, and Blaise. Her pug nose was flaring and Ginny couldn't really make out what she was saying with that _annoyingly_ high pitched voice. She cocked her head to the side and vaguely heard "I don't know who you think you are, messing with my men" before she saw Pansy fling her cup of pumpkin juice at her. She couldn't react fast enough, and she turned her face away just in time to feel the cold splash of liquid descend on her…and her new robes.

She heard a group of collective gasps radiate throughout the hall before quickly using her wand to mop up her clothes. She turned to face Pansy with fury in her eyes, and just about flung herself over the table to reach her, leaning far over. She grabbed the Slytherin girl by her collar and dragged her across the table, shoving her wand to her throat.

Before she could do anything more than spit in her face, she felt Draco pull Pansy from her grasp and shove the pug-nosed freak onto the floor, glaring daggers at her. "I don't know who you think _you _are, Parkinson, but you better not mess with _our girl,_" He all but snarled at her. Pansy's eyes widened in shock and what looked like a hurt gaze. She kept looking from Ginny to Draco to Blaise, going back and forth between all three of them with outrage.

Ginny was shocked! Sure her and Draco had their good times, but he had never so blatantly showed that he cared…especially not in front of _everyone_. She felt Blaise walk over to stand behind her, taking out his wand and cleaning the remaining pumpkin juice off the floor and from her hair.

She saw Pansy snarl, but before she could reply they saw Snape come over and stand before them all. "What is the meaning of this?" He asked coolly, looking to Draco in askance.

Draco put on his best innocent face (which was rather amusing to Ginny who had to try and cover her snort with a cough), and gestured to Pansy with a disgusted look on his face.

"We were merely trying to eat our breakfast when this…this…thing," he looked at Pansy, "decided to be an arse about things and attack a student."

Snape looked at Pansy on the floor and nodded in a bored motion. "Detention, Ms. Parkinson, with Filch."

Blaise nodded his head vigorously in agreement, adding, "For a week."

Snape looked over at Blaise in amusement, but Blaise just flashed a grin and leaned forward over a protesting Pansy, showing off his Head Boy badge.

"For a week," Snape repeated before strolling back up to the Head Table and continuing his meal. The three sat back down at the now disastrous looking table as if nothing had happened, and the Pug-nose princess harrumphed back to her seat at the other end of the table.

"Now where were we?" Draco asked in a casual tone, placing his arm around her protectively and ignoring the stares from not only his housemates but everyone in the Great Hall. They seemed to all be thinking the same thing.

_A Malfoy and a Weasely?!_

Right when they were about to strike up normal conversation, Ginny saw McGonagall rush up to Dumbledore and whisper something in his ear urgently. A surprised look crossed his face, and he stood rather quickly to make an announcement. Everyone in the Great Hall became hushed as he stood and cleared his throat.

"It seems seventh year, Gryffindor, Neville Longbottom, never turned in and came back from Hogsmeade yesterday evening. No one has seen him since midday at the trip. I have had the Hogsmeade residents search for him, but the search came up empty. If anyone has seen him since yesterday or has any information as to the whereabouts of Mr. Longbottom, please inform your Head of House or myself. Keep your eyes open. I hope to believe that he is either still on Hogwarts or Hogsmeade grounds." And with that he sat down, and the tables erupted with talk.

_Missing? _Hardly ever had a student gone missing within Hogwarts. It was the safest place to be, after all. I mean, sure Neville wasn't the brightest of people, and Hogwarts was a definite maze to get through, but _missing?_ Ginny just couldn't get over it.

She stood from the table and turned toward the boys. "I've got to go. I'll talk to you guys later." And with a distracted look on her face, she left the two. Once out of the Great Hall she ran the rest of the way to her dorm.

Harry had left her the Marauders Map, knowing that he wouldn't be needing it when he was far away from Hogwarts. It would show anyone on Hogwarts and Hogsmeade grounds. She would find him herself.

She ran up the spiral staircase and banged open the door, crouching by her suitcase and rummaging in it to find the packet of parchment. Once it was out, she whispered a fast "I solemnly swear I am up to no good" before it opened. She searched throughout all the folds, checking and double-checking.

But Neville was no where in sight.

--

**_REVIEW!!_** And Ill try to update faster :)


	6. Of Dueling and Surprises

**Chapter 6**

**Disclaimer: Me no own. You no sue!**

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Criticism is always welcome! **

Ginny ran through hall after hall, each packed full of students. Breakfast had just ended and she was pushing and shoving her way between the many strolling students, the map still clutched fast in her grasp. She worried her bottom lip between her teeth, her cheeks tinged pink from running all this way.

She had to find Dumbledore and tell him that Neville was nowhere on either Hogwarts or Hogsmeade grounds. She had no idea what had happened to him, the possibilities were endless. She reached the Great Hall and peeked through the doors, her eyes searching out for the wizened old man, cursing when she saw he had already left.

She picked up her pace again, her feet taking her to the floor of his office. She reached the office entrance, guarded by the two gargoyles and remembered that she had no idea what the password was. Her brows came together in concentration, thinking of any word that Dumbledore might use to guard his office.

"Ugh…Lemon Drop? Chocolate Frog? Bertie Bots Every Flavored Beans? No of course not!…Uhm…," and she continued, word after word after word that might describe the smart wizard. His favorite treats, people, friends. Anything! But it never opened.

She heard someone cluck their tongue in annoyance, and turned slowly to see Professor Snape standing directly behind her, eyebrow cocked at her.

"What _are_ you doing, Ms. Weasley?" He asked, eyeing her disheveled appearance and the packet of parchment in her hand, which had by now turned white from holding it so hard. She swallowed thickly, whipping the sweat from her brow.

"I need to talk to Professor Dumbledore, now! It's urgent! But I don't know the password." He looked at her suspiciously, and she looked between him and the gargoyles expectantly. Giving an inward sigh, Snape moved closer to the door and leaned in, whispering the password under his breath. The gargoyles jumped aside to reveal a spiral staircase, and she thanked him quickly before sprinting up it.

When she arrived in front of the door, she hesitated only a moment before knocking. The hollow thud of her knock resounded through and down the spiral staircase, much louder than she intended, and she inwardly cringed. She heard movement behind the door and backed up a pace in the narrow hall before the door glided open. Looking up, she stared into the old eyes behind the half moon spectacles of the Headmaster. _Well finally!_

She stepped in, not waiting for him to invite her in, but he didn't seem to mind. He walked around his desk and sat. "Have a seat, Ms. Weasley." She complied, sitting opposite him in a comfy chair.

She opened her mouth to talk, but paused. She didn't even know what to tell him. She had been in such a rush to get here and explain to him everything, that she hadn't even planned it out. How was she supposed to explain the Marauders Map? And when she did point out that Neville wasn't on the map, what would he say? What was there to be done?

"Was there something you wanted to say, Ms. Weasley?" He asked, helping her along. She closed her still open mouth, swallowing, before starting.

"Sir, Neville isn't in Hogwarts…nor Hogsmeade." He looked at her with those glimmering eyes, a curious expression on his face as he slightly raised an eyebrow.

"And how would you know this Ms. Weasley?"

Ginny faltered. She didn't think she was even supposed to have the map. Should she lie? But then again, she had already brought the parchment in with her, and she didn't think that Dumbledore would fall for any of her lies. She sighed in resignation.

"The Marauders Map, Sir. Do you know of it?"

His eyes twinkled. "I've heard of it, yes. Would you care to explain it to me?"

She had a feeling he already knew what it was, but complied never the less. "It's a parchment, Sir," She held it up, opening it, "and when you say 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good' it opens itself and reveals to you all the occupants, where they are, on both Hogwarts and Hogsmeade grounds. When you said that Neville was missing, I just couldn't believe it, and I thought I could help. But when I looked at the map, he was no where in sight! I just…I just thought that if you knew, you could try and help. Or, at the very least, have people searching in wider ranges, seeing as he isn't anywhere here."

She passed the Marauders Map to the Headmaster, who took it in both of his hands, eyeing it. His eyes, though, didn't seem to twinkle or glimmer anymore. They seemed dull and weary as he looked over the parchment. She knew it was serious. His expression seemed to darken as he looked over each page, having no good result. At this moment, he no longer looked like the almighty Albus Dumbledore, greatest wizard of all time. He did not have that radiance that usually surrounded him. No, right now he just seemed like a very tired, very distraught old man who had come to the end of his rope.

The morning sunlight filtered through the windows behind and beside him, bathing him in light. His silvery white hair and beard shone with brilliance. The light seemed to amplify the lines around his eyes and mouth, and seemed to seep into the deep wrinkles on his face. He looked up from the map and sighed in defeat.

"You're right, Ms. Weasley. He is not here. I will have to contact the very little family he has left, and question them of it. And if they do not know where he is, I will have to contact the Ministry, and order a missing person alert. " Ginny nodded in understanding, her eyes connecting with the saddened ones of her Headmaster. "Ms. Weasley, if I could ask you something?"

Ginny was surprised at that, but nodded her head anyway. "Anything, Headmaster."

"I was wondering about the last time _you_ saw him. I am well aware that he hadn't many friends, but you and him have always had a sort of connection. When was the last time you saw him, before he disappeared, Ms. Weasley?"

Ginny fidgeted under his gaze. "The night before the Hogsmeade trip. He asked me if I would like to go with him, but I already had plans. He went straight to bed after that, and for all I know, nobody's spoken to him since. You were right when you said he didn't have many friends."

That thought did disturb her some. What if she had gone with him? Would he still be here now? Was it her own folly and selfishness at not accepting his request the reason he wasn't still here? It made her feel terrible. What if she could have helped?

She groaned at herself. _What has happened to him?_ All this apprehension was getting to her head. She just wanted to find him and have him back safely.

"Sir? What do you think happened to him?"

"There are many possibilities as to why he is not still on these grounds. First of all, if he left willingly. That may very well be the case, which is why I must contact his grandmother. It is his choice to leave, as he is of legal age. He could have gone to visit family or friends. He could have left and went anywhere. He could have been forced to leave, kidnapped or something along those lines. Or," here he paused, his face darkening even more, "he could be dead. I am very much hopping it isn't the latter, but one can never be certain. I doubt it would show one's body on the map, when the soul is not in it."

"But Sir, all the ghosts are on the map! Nearly Headless Nick and the Bloody Baron are dead and we can see them! Why wouldn't we see him?"

"Because they are still the essence of what they once were. It's still their soul and the image of their body." She frowned slightly but slumped her shoulders in defeat. Whatever had happened to him, it was now in the hands of the headmaster.

He turned his gaze one more time at the map, folding it up.

"Thank you, Ms. Weasley, for coming to me with this information. We may have never known he was not on the grounds if not for your help. Trust me in this, that I will continue to search for him, and have others keeping their eyes out for him as well. I will do everything possible in my power to find him, and insure that he is safe. Now, Ms. Weasley, you may leave."

Ginny nodded and stood from where she was still seated opposite of the man. She squinted at the sunlight, and turned her back on it, making her way to the door.

"Ms. Weasley?" She heard him call out, hand on the doorknob, and turned back to him.

"Yes, Sir?"

"You might want this back," He said, holding up the Marauders Map and extending it to her. Her eyes widened.

"I can keep it?" She honestly hadn't thought that if she had revealed something as special as that to him that he'd let her keep it. At his nod, she walked back over and took it, turning on her heel and exiting his office, closing the door behind her.

--

The rest of her weekend passed quickly. She, Draco, and Blaise had stayed outside most of the time, reveling in the warm sunshine, which she knew that in no time at all, would start to turn frigidly cold. There was already a cool breeze that drifted in across the lake, warning them of the fast approaching winter.

It was now Monday morning, and Ginny had just awoken, taken her daily shower, and dressed in her favorite outfit; the one she had gaped at in the window. It looked absolutely stunning on her, or so she thought, and she didn't often have thoughts like that.

She was no where near perfect. In her opinion she was too short, not even reaching to Draco's shoulders. She hated her too-red hair, and detested her boring brown eyes. She was by no means skinny, but neither was she fat. She was curvy. Voluptuous. Her chest and hips turned her form into an hourglass figure, and one that she was particularly proud of. And with these new school robes, they clung to her in such a way as to not reveal too much, but show off her great features.

She looked at herself once more in the mirror, admiring the new outfit. She'd definitely have to thank Draco for that one. She smoothed her robes and took off down the stairs to breakfast.

She thought she looked good in these robes, and apparently, so did the male population of Hogwarts.

As she walked through the halls, she saw boys in mid-sentence and mid-stride falter and stop what they were doing to turn and look at the new and improved Ginny. She felt their eyes on her from all directions. She blushed under their scrutiny, making her way to the Great Hall for breakfast, trying in vain not to notice all the gazes she felt in her back as she walked through the crowd.

She reached the Great Hall and walked in, making her way down between the tables to get to the Gryffindor table. Rumors were already spreading like wildfire about herself and Draco and Blaise. . Well, they weren't exactly rumors, but some people didn't believe it anyway. The last thing she wanted to do was get people started on more, even if that did mean sacrificing a few meals with the two. A lot of the students at Hogwarts didn't even listen to the preposterous rumors flying around the castle. Dating that came in threes didn't happen often, and most people refused to even think about a Gryffindor dating _two_ Slytherins. It was unheard of!

People's heads began to turn as she made her way to the bench, sliding herself into the seat. Everyone was used to her wearing the Weasley's old hand-me-down clothing, knowing fully well she couldn't afford anything new or expensive. Just like the clothing she had on now. And apparently the guys of the school had just grown eyes and started noticing her. She ignored all the stares and glanced up at Draco who was scowling at almost every boy in the Great Hall. She laughed out loud at his possessiveness.

She turned back to her plate and began to grab some toast, when a hand got in her way.

"Let me get that for you, Gin." She looked up right into the eyes of Seamus Finnegan, who was currently only inches from her. He smiled and piled her plate up for her, taking the seat behind her and "inconspicuously" putting his arm around her shoulder. She gave him a smile that looked more like grimace, backing away slightly with an incredulous expression on her face. What? Could she not get her own toast? And why was he so close? She started to become uncomfortable with the closeness of their proximity and their low level of friendship and began trying to inch away from him before starting to butter her toast. She looked around, and saw others as well started to edge closer to her.

She saw Colin Creevey sit down opposite her, giving her a timid smile before trying to strike up conversation, which she blatantly ignored. Her and Colin got along well as friends, but nothing more. She was really starting to get irritated by this.

_I mean, come on! I've been here all these years and they've never taken the time to even so much as look at me! And now, just because I have robes that actually fit and they can see what I look like, they start to care? They're not interested in me as a person at all! They only like what they see! And who do they think bought these expensive robes for me anyway?_

She was just about to get up and tell them to shove off, when she felt a strong pair of hands on her shoulders, keeping her seated. She felt the person slide into the bench beside her, and when she looked over, she saw the ever arrogant Zacharias Smith. Once he was seated beside her, he put an arm around her, hand holding onto her waist and smashing her against him at his side.

_Great, I'm being lugged around like some piece of meat from one prick to another._

"Hands off, Finnegan." He said, brushing off Finnegan's arm.

Ginny sat there frozen and tense. She really didn't want to make a scene but he was pushing it. How dare he just presume that he could touch her? Her anger started to build as she felt his hand slide down her waste and rest ever so casually on the round of her arse.

Draco looked over from where he sat at the Slytherin table, sending glares of pure hatred at anyone who had the audacity to look at _his_ woman like that. He was quickly regretting buying her that outfit. She obviously didn't know how good she looked in it!

He also noticed that quite a lot of the testosterone filled dickheads started making their way towards her, moving closer or sitting beside her, looking at her like she was some piece of meat.

He saw that Finnegan kid stop her hand as she reached for food, helping her plate it up. He rolled his eyes in distaste, and huffed when he saw him try to place his arm around her shoulder naturally.

He looked over at Blaise who, he saw, had his eyes narrowed as well and seemed to be eyeing one the guys that had placed himself right beside Ginny. Blaise's eyes widened and he let out and indignant huff, his eyebrows coming together in rage as he stood up from his perch.

Draco followed his gaze, which was still on that one guy sitting beside her. What was his name again? Well it didn't matter anyway, because Draco saw his hand go from squishing her to his side down to her behind.

And that's all that it took to set Draco off.

He saw Blaise already storming over there, but beat him to it. He shoved himself out of the bench, practically snarling, before rushing over there.

She was just about to jump down his throat when she felt another pair of hands on her shoulders.

_Oh Lord, when will this end? _She looked to the ceiling in exasperation, her temper flaring.

She saw the other pair of hands shove Smith roughly away from her, prying his arm off her waist and his hand off her butt. She heard the deep growl and knew immediately it was Draco, almost smiling in relief.

He yanked her up out of the seat gently, glowering at both men who were sitting by her.

"Keep your _filthy_ hands off of what's mine," He said, practically spitting at them. He dragged her backwards into her chest, putting her arms around her securely. He turned from Smith to Finnegan. "And I do believe she can get her _own_ bloody toast. She has hands, if you haven't noticed. Idiots." He saw Seamus blush slightly and rolled his eyes at him, turning away with Ginny in his arms. Anyone who so much as breathed in his general direction got a hard glare from him as he made his way out of the Great Hall with her and Blaise.

Once they were out of the way from prying eyes she sighed in relief and they stopped in one of the hallways. Blaise leaned back against the wall and Draco had yet to let her go. She breathed in his scent which fogged her mind and slumped back against him. She tilted her head up, trying to see him, and felt his heavy breathing to one side tickle her ear. She leaned her head to the side, and felt his mouth lower onto her neck. She closed her eyes, a smile gracing her lips and she leaned back into his touch.

If anything, Draco seemed to be put into possessive mode, kissing and licking her neck as if to prove that she was really his, whereas Blaise was still furious.

She opened her eyes and looked over to Blaise who had a darkened look about him and was impatiently tapping his foot. It wasn't often that Blaise got mad, but she could tell from his expression he was dying to go back in there and teach them a lesson. She saw him quickly master his emotions so well like he always did. What she would give for a trade like that.

He looked up and met her eyes, scowling ever so much before taking a quick step towards her and yanking her robes closed over her chest, using magic to keep in there, covering her completely. She rolled her eyes but made no move to undo it.

She looked around as she heard the many footsteps of the students making their way to class. Well, it was time for her to be getting to class with them anyway. First period was Advance Defense Against the Dark Arts. She wasn't exactly looking forward to it. Its not that she wasn't really good at it, its just that it was quite boring. They had this new teacher, Mrs. Harper, who didn't hardly do anything with them. They read a whole lot and once in a while they'd try out an incantation or two, but for the most part it just put her to sleep.

They stepped into the room, which was still almost barren of students, and sat down at one of the tables, Draco and Blaise pulling Ginny in-between them both, wrapping their arms around her.

They sat silently as the room began to fill, people staring at them and whispering behind their hands about it. She knew that by lunch it would have spread through every house, and to every person in the castle. But, she found that she didn't really mind. Sure the whispering and pointing got a bit annoying, but she was kind of happy it was out. No more having to meet in secret or eat in the kitchens where no one would gawk. She was rather relieved all in all.

"Attention class!" The students fell silent as the middle aged witch addressed the class, her bright shock of white blond hair held back in a ponytail. "Turn in your textbooks to chapter seven. Today we will be covering the ancient methods of the Dueling Tournaments. I want you to read all of the chapter, and when everyone is done reading I will break you all into pairs and we will begin our own tournament." She turned away from the class, shoving her glasses high on her pointy nose and sat in her seat, observing the class as they did as they were told.

Ginny opened her text to the correct chapter and began to read. It was actually pretty interesting. Apparently back in ancient times, wizards would have Dueling Tournaments, in which several pairs of wizards and witches competed against each other. The winner of each duel got paired up with another winner, and so on until they had reached the final pair. There were no rules, and often wizards and witches used dark magic against their opponents. Ginny interpreted it as just a vulgar way of showing off ones power, as the final winner never won anything or received anything for their efforts.

So it was banned from the wizarding world only a few years after they began. Many people who participated in it died and it was outlawed as a danger to society.

So why were they doing it today?

Ginny had finished reading and observed the others who were done as well. They were all looking at each other in dismay, obviously thinking the same thing as she was. _Is this woman mental?_

Well, Ginny wouldn't exactly deny it. The woman vaguely reminded her of Professor Trelawney, except for the fact that she didn't interrupt her lessons by blurting out peoples deaths.

Once they were all done reading, Professor Harper stood, a smile firmly on her face.

"There is no need to worry yourselves, class. Today we will be doing a modern version of it. No dark magic. We will try to keep the injuries to a minimal level, but for the most part, if its not dark, there aren't any restrictions. And for the winner, they will receive an Outstanding and fifty points to their house for today."

She walked over to the door and opened it, glancing back over her shoulder when no one moved. "Well come on! You actually think we're going to do it the classroom?" She scoffed and moved on without waiting.

Everyone stood, looking at each other dubiously before grabbing their things and following the woman out onto the grounds, and in front of the lake.

"I'll call out the pairs, and we will begin." Her shrill, slightly hyper tone began to read out the many pairs, and when that was done they all spread out took their stances, the tournament commencing.

Ginny was first paired with Millicent Bulstrode, who was very keen on attacking first. Ginny put up her shield, blocking any attempts of spells that Millicent sent her way. For the first part of the duel, Ginny was very much on the defensive side, blocking and sidestepping curse after curse, not really having any time to cast her own. But after a few minutes she saw the Slytherin girl beginning to tire as she slowed down on her constant assault.

Ginny finally struck when she saw the girls weakness. Millicent tried to sidestep in her dueling stance, and winced when her leg gave out. Ginny guessed that her right leg wasn't so strong, and sent a Jelly Legs Jinx at her. Her legs wobbled and gave out, and she fell right on her face. She growled and gave the counter curse, trying to get shakily to her feet. Bloody Slytherins. Too much pride to give up that easily.

Ginny easily dashed out of the way of her Stupefy spell, rolling on the ground and sending her own spell at the girl.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

She watched Millicent try and throw up her shield, but was too slow and it hit her dead on in the chest, freezing her and sending her sprawling backwards.

Ginny smirked to herself, having defeated her opponent, and took the opportunity to look around at the battling students. No one was done except herself, having been the first to finish. Draco was battling off Crabbe with graceful skill and ease, looking slightly bored and not at all challenged as he blocked off every one of the bigger mans spells. Blaise was dueling with Lavender, and looked to be taking it easy on her. Seamus and Dean were going at it ardently, both giving their all, and seemed to be an equal match to each other as neither one of them had the upper hand at the moment. Pansy and Parvati were battling dangerously close to the edge of the lake, and Pansy seemed to have the upper hand on Parvati, as Parvati was already struggling to remain standing.

And the last couple was Goyle and Theodore Nott. To say the least, Nott was putting Goyle to disgrace. His easy grace slightly mocked the clumsy oaf, and his fast reflexes amazed her. He sidestepped a terrible excuse for a spell and hardly blinked as he sent a perfect Stupefy his way in one fluid motion.

Ginny watched the dueling continue with interest. Never before had she taken the time to actually examine a duel, but now her interest was captured. She was enraptured as she watched the people dodge and cast spells, using up all their energy and using all their strength not to be bested.

She watched as Pansy had Parvati disarmed, almost pushing Parvati into the lake. They were the third pair done dueling, and all the others were coming to an end as well. Blaise had set a body bind hex at Lavender, not trying to hurt her too much, and went over to her, grabbing her wand. Seeing as though there was nothing else she could do, she had to succumb to Blaise. Nott was collecting Goyle's wand, doing nothing to help him, and Crabbe seemed to be egging Draco on. She watched as Draco and Crabbe came into range of each other. Draco surprised everyone by dropped his wand and decking Crabbe in the face, making the much larger Slytherin crumble to the ground.

_Well they never said anything about _that_ in the rules._

The only battle that was still going was Dean and Seamus. They were no closer to being finished then when they had begun. Neither one looked scathed, just tired and exhausting from this never ending fight. They were both beginning to sweat, even with the cool breeze rolling across the lake. Seamus sent a quick Silencing Charm to Dean, who wasn't quick enough to dodge it. That meant an automatic win to Seamus since Dean could no longer speak to cast a spell.

Mrs. Harper gathered the winners from the first round and paired them up with another winner. Most of the losers sat themselves on the ground, staying to watch, and only Parvati left to wander around until her next class.

Round two Ginny got paired with Blaise. She was excited and hoping for a good fight from him, knowing full well that he could put up a fight with ease. She glanced over to see Draco bow to Seamus, and Theo to Pansy.

Ginny nodded to Blaise with a little smile on her face, turned her back on him and walked a few paces away, turning around and bowing to her partner as he bowed back. Ginny was hardly out of her bow before she sent a quick stunning spell at him, which he easily deflected with a flick from his wand.

All Ginny's excitement at this duel with Blaise went downhill. He just stood there the whole time, not uttering a single curse in her direction. He looked uneasily at Mrs. Harper, who stood there watching him expectantly, waiting for him to make a move as everyone else was well into their battle. He sent a pathetic looking spell at her, which was wispy and hardly even a hex at all, and which dragged along at her at a slow pace. She rolled her eyes and huffed in annoyance.

"Come on, Blaise! What's wrong with you?!" She was expecting some great show down and all he gave her was _this_?

She sent a fast spell at him, which he easily sidestepped, still looking between Mrs. Harper and herself. She could tell he didn't want to fight her. But _why_? She just couldn't think of why he wouldn't fight her when he had all that talent! _It's not as if he's going to hurt me! _

That's when it finally dawned on her that that was the problem. _Does he honestly think he's going to hurt me? I mean, sure he's good, but that's just insulting!_ On one side she was giddy at the thought and thought it was adorable and sweet that he cared for her that much, but at the same time she was pissed. Did he really think her that weak? Did he really think that she couldn't hold her own? Its not as if this were some life-threatening, even remotely serious duel!

Her cheeks flamed as she thought of what a wimp he must think she was.

_I'll show him! _She wasn't going to let him off the hook that easily! She was going to show that she was strong enough to beat him!

She abruptly held her head high, straightening up to her full height and he quickly realized she was well beyond angry. Before he could even mutter, "Oh crap," she had spell after spell fired at him. She was using any spells that she could think of and sent them his way one right after the other, giving him no time to block himself or dodge all of them. He managed to escape a few of them, but then was hit dead on with one of her infamous Bat Bogey Hex's. He screamed and dropped his wand, which she quickly Accioed to her. She watched in amusement as he ran around screaming and flailing his arms. Never in a million years would she expect to see this suave man to loose control.

She saw the professor beckoning her to her, as the other battles were already concluded. She cast the counter curse at Blaise who immediately stopped, glaring at her, and made her way over to the teacher.

It was time for the final round, but there were only three contestants left. The fact that their had been six pairs of students originally, which left three on the last round, meant that there were three finalist. Draco, Theodore Nott, and herself.

"Ms. Weasely, you will be paired with Mr. Malfoy first, and the winner of that round will face off against Mr. Nott here."

Ginny nodded and took her stance opposite Draco. Whereas she thought this would be a difficult match, it proved very simple. It seemed Draco was thinking along the same line as Blaise was, and refused to cast anything at all in her direction. She wanted to ball up her hands and stomp on the ground. Good Lord! Why had she chosen two possessive gits?

He blocked every attempt she made to hex him, sidestepping, dodging and reflecting anything that came remotely close to him. She didn't understand why though. If he wouldn't get hit by one of her spells, and was unwilling to send any, this fight would go on forever! She was getting very exasperated with all this crap. They needed to stop acting as if she would break. She was just as smart and talented and fast as them, and they weren't giving her any opportunity to prove herself.

Ginny sent a hex, "accidentally" around Draco and missed him, which hit a nearby tree and bounced back off it, straight into Draco's back.

Ginny smiled at her own tact, glowing with pride and wanting to rub it all in the boys face, but decided that could wait until later.

It was now just between her and Nott, whom she hoped wouldn't go easy on her either. She was getting tired of all of it. They took their positions by the lake.

Nott proved to be a definite challenge. As they were bowing, he began to shoot curse after curse at her, not waiting for her to get out of her bow. She had no time to react and one of the curses hit her dead on, sending her flying back into the water.

She sloshed around in the water, trying to getting her bearings and sputtering as the water drenched through her clothes, but she didn't give up. She still had her wand in her hand, and even in the water she sent an Expelliarmus at him, which he deflected. She saw power radiating about him. He was fast. She'd give him that. And he had power in his spells. But she still wouldn't back down.

She tried to slowly inch her way towards the shore, sending curses at him all the while. One of hers just barely grazed past his head, and she saw his eyes narrow in fury.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" He screamed it, thrusting his wand at her. She felt herself fly through the air, shivering as the wind ripped through her soaking robes. He thrust his wand to the shore, and the thought of landing on ground made her happy, but instead he veered his wand and slammed her against a nearby tree.

Her head cracked against the tree, sending her mind reeling and she had to blink several times and shake her head to rid herself of the fogginess. Ginny now had a terrible headache that radiated throughout her head, clouding her thoughts. She blinked and looked up and saw him approaching, keeping her pinned against the tree with his wand. She struggled to raise her wand, but he had her arms pinned at her sides.

He had an insufferably evil smirk as he sauntered up to her. She looked around him and saw Draco visibly enraged and an ever (forcibly) collected Blaise restraining him from storming over to Theo and pounding the shit out of him.

He had just reached the tree and she glared hatred at him. He placed one had on the trunk of the tree on one side of her head, leaning against it and bringing his wand hand up. He brought his wand up to her neck, caressing it. He leaned forward to her ear, flicking his tongue over the lobe. She shivered from disgust and tried to pull away. He slipped his wand over her neck to her pressure point, slightly digging into the skin and applying pressure. She winced in pain.

"You can just give up now, Weasley, and I'll think about going easy on you." He said in a too-sweet voice, punctuating it with a sharp jab at her neck.

"Fuck you, Nott!" She snarled at him, twisting her neck away from him. He just smirked arrogantly and pulled away from her ear, looking down at her face and his eyes focusing on her lips. He moved his wand from her neck to her lips, running his wand over her bottom one.

"Do you kiss your mum with that mouth, pretty little Weaselette?" He questioned. Ginny growled at him and spat in his face.

His face contorted in rage and a snarl erupted from his throat as he reached for her neck with his own hands.

Ginny was afraid she'd gone too far this time as his hands descended on her neck. She started to panic and before he could squeeze her throat, a blast forced itself out of her and sent him flying twenty feet back, sprawled on the ground, unconscious.

She felt the magical bonds holding her to the tree release, and she shakily got to her feet, using a drying spell to dry her robes. She walked over to Professor Harper, rubbing the back of her head with one hand, which when she pulled it away was covered in blood.

"Uhm…so I guess I won?" She gave a nervous smile, her face going pale. Right now all she cared about was winning. The teacher was looking dumbly at her and to Nott who was still knocked out on the grass. The teacher just deftly nodded her head, turning towards Nott and back again.

"How did you do that?" She asked in awe. Never before had she seen something like that. She hadn't been in this field long, but she had never encountered such power. Ginny shifted from foot to foot nervously and shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know, it just happened. Why didn't you try to stop him anyway?"

"I said in the rules no dark magic, and he didn't. I didn't have any reason to stop him in this duel. He was winning, and probably would have if you hadn't…," She stopped. She didn't even know the proper term for what Ginny did to Theo. She just shook her head and sighed. "Fifty points to Gryffindor and an Outstanding for the day. Get yourself to the Infirmary." And with that she stepped past Ginny and over to Nott, levitating him behind her to the Hospital Wing. As she passed with him, Ginny noticed the burnt edges of his clothing and the singed ends of his hair.

She put her hand back to her head and winced as the pain shot through her. She felt rather than saw Blaise walk up to her from behind, hold her head steady and heal it. He used a scourgify to clear the blood from her hair.

Ginny turned around when she felt him pull away, and saw Draco and Blaise who were watching her with surprised expressions on their faces, their eyes wide. She sighed and rolled her eyes, walking by them and back up to the castle. She didn't know what she had done to Nott, and didn't feel like trying to explain something like that. She slowed when she heard their footfalls getting closer to her, letting them catch up, their momentary lapse of speech obviously forgotten. They didn't seem to want to talk about what she did anyway.

"Now _that_ was hot!" Blaise put an arm around her shoulder, pulling her to him. She looked at Draco who was still fuming and muttering under his breath something about, "that ass," and "Oh, he's going to get it." Ginny rolled her eyes at him, and suddenly remembered something. She wriggled out of Blaise's grasp, standing in front of them with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face.

"And what was that about anyway? Why wouldn't you fight me?" She saw Blaise sigh as he leaned forward, grabbing her and turning her around so he could pull her back into him. He stroked his hands down her arms, kissing at her neck, but she didn't fall for it. She knew he was just trying to distract her.

"Oh come on, Red. We just didn't want to hurt our favorite Weasel." Her eyes narrowed and she pulled out of his grasp.

"Hurt me? Hurt _me_? Please, you should be happy you didn't actually try. If you had gotten me all riled up, you might've ended up like Nott over there." She started to walk away but Blaise grabbed her again, pulling her back to him so she was facing his chest.

"Aww, we promise to make it up to you, love," He said in a suggestive voice, nipping lightly at her ear and making a shiver go down her spine as Draco came up behind her and pressed himself flush against her. He nuzzled his face into her hair.

She harrumphed, knowing she would give in.

_Gits._

--

After their Advance D.A.D.A class, they had headed to the library for her tutoring lessons. She had actually been getting better with all their help, and her grades were slowly rising. She was able to do the potions she had struggled with before with ease, and her stress was gradually melting away. She had two great tutors, who went over her problems over and over again, and it was thanks to them that she had been making progress.

She also used the time while she was there to look up what had happened to Nott. It was hard to explain, but the blast had just erupted from nowhere, using up some of her strength. She didn't know what she'd call it, but she kept looking until she found it.

She found it in a book called "Mysterious Mishaps." It said that when a particular person gifted in the strength of magic struggled or panicked, an explosion of the raw essence of their power was concentrated on attacking or destroying the one thing that had unsettled its owner.

Ginny had been surprised at that, but knew that was what had happened. She had definitely panicked, and the power that was emanated from her was enough to completely wipe Nott out.

She was a bit uncertain about that power, but begrudgingly accepted. Hell, if she hadn't had the capability to do that, she didn't know what Nott would've done to her!

She told Blaise and Draco what she had read, but they hadn't really talked it over, for which she was glad. She didn't know what to say anyway. So they had sat in companionable silence for a while, before heading back.

They were now in Blaise's head boy rooms, using the time to study and get their homework done. The work had been piling up and everyone in seventh year had been scrambling to get it all done. They usually worked quite well together, often testing one another on the subject, reading out loud to each other, or just completely ignoring each other and doing their own thing.

Ginny had taken up residence on the bed, having her things sprawled out all around her and using a large sturdy book to write on. She was supposed to be writing a two foot essay on the effects and consequences of too much intake of a substance for potions. I mean, how much can your write on _that_? She thought it was a dumb topic to be writing a _two foot_ essay on, but at least it was easy. She almost finished with it, being halfway through the second foot of parchment, but she was stuck on what else to say. She had presented all the basics and important facts, elaborating and detailing everything to help take up more room, but she still had a half foot left and she had currently run out of words.

She let out a groan and flopped onto her back, staring at the ceiling with tired eyes.

"Break time!" She called out, startling the two boys who were also silently indulged in their work. Draco was seated at the window seat and put down his quill and stood up.

Blaise let out a huge yawn, covering his eyes with his hand and rubbing at them tiredly. He got up from his desk by the fireplace, and looked at his clock, sighing.

"Looks like you two are staying here for tonight. It's already passed curfew. Studied too long."

Ginny shoved all her papers off the bed, scattering them to the floor and making room for the two boys who came over to her.

"Good, I'm tired anyway. I'd rather fail that complete that essay right now. Why do we always get the boring stuff?" She flopped back and closed her eyes. She felt the bed dip on either side of her, and smiled contentedly as she felt two warm bodies encircling her.

She still couldn't believe how lucky she was to be with these two. It seemed to good, and felt as if it were some dream. She still thought about it time to time, wondering how they came to be. I mean, one day they're enemies, and the next they're all buddy buddy? She thought at first it must've been some sort of joke or trap, but she could see the sincerity in their eyes and the way they looked at her.

She didn't believe they loved her anything like that, but it was obvious that they cared for her. She just couldn't figure out why. She kept waiting for some sort of clue or hint as to why they had chosen her, but nothing had come up yet, and she wasn't willing to ask.

Then again, there were a lot of things she wasn't willing to ask. They still had their distances from each other. They weren't completely close, and they kept their guard up most of the time. She thought of it as a hassle to get closer to each other, but she could understand why. These two seemed so…deep. They were filled with mystery and she didn't think she could ever get to the bottom of them. She could live with them having secrets, keeping to themselves and not telling her everything, as long as they didn't lie to her, or as long as it wasn't some sort of offence against her.

She absent mindedly began fondling the locket at her throat, something she did whenever she was deep in thought. It was more of a habit than anything.

"What's this, little Red?" She opened her eyes and saw Blaise leaning over her as he took her locket from her hand into his.

She blushed a little. "Just a locket."

"No, Really? I would've never guessed." He rolled his eyes and a light smile graced his lips. "It seems important. You're always touching it. Was it from your mum or something?"

She felt her face go red and looked sheepishly at Blaise as he rose a perfect eyebrow.

"Uhm…not exactly."

Draco became interested as well and took it from Blaise. "Ever heard of _opening _it?" He rolled his eyes and shook his head. Ginny grabbed at his hand and tried to stop him from opening it, but Blaise held her back with a curious expression.

She swore she was going to die.

Inside the heart-shaped locket was a miniature picture of Harry and herself, deep in a snogging session. Draco's eyebrows rose incredibly far, before he narrowed his eyes in anger, whereas Blaise just started laughing.

"What're you laughing at?" Draco all but yelled at the other boy.

"I just love seeing your expression." He started laughing again.

"What's so funny about my expression? And _why_ are you taking this considerably well?"

"Well, we all know Red and Scar Head had their "thing" the other year, but it's obvious that she doesn't like him anymore. And it's _hilarious_ that you got so mad over something so petty. And," he held up the locket in front of Draco's face, infuriating him even more, "he cant even kiss right."

When Draco looked closer at the picture, he knew Blaise was right. Potter really had no technique. He was still mad though. Even if she didn't care about Potter anymore, then why was she still wearing it? And that's exactly what he asked.

"I dunno, Draco, I've had it forever. I just never thought about taking it off before," She said innocently.

"I don't see why you'd mind. She's with us now." Blaise slipped an arm around Ginny's side and smiled his arrogant smile.

"Of course I would mind! She's my girlfriend!" He replied in a haughty tone.

"Well she's my girlfriend too and you don't see _me_ getting all worked up about it!"

Draco scoffed. "Please, I'm more of her boyfriend than you are anyway."

Ginny could tell Blaise put up his defense mode. "How do you figure?"

"Well I'm with her more than you. And we get along better. We talk more." Ginny was surprised that they were getting this way over her. It was actually quite amusing.

"Oh is that right?" Asked Blaise who cocked his head to the side.

"Yea, that _is_ right."

Blaise eyes narrowed at Draco and, faster than she could react, he had Ginny pinned beneath him. She looked up at Blaise before he lowered his mouth onto hers. She let him guide her. Let him access her mouth with his tongue. She felt him move to her neck and moaned in surprise as he nibbled there. She felt his hands exploring the contours of her body, and she wrapped her arms around him. She felt him lower himself so his face was at her stomach, and she felt her shirt rise up. She felt him kissing and licking her stomach, and right when he was about to go lower, Draco shoved Blaise off of her and took his place. She saw a glint in Draco's eyes that told her that he was finding this amusing.

She felt Draco's hands over her breasts through her shirt, but before he could do anything, Blaise tackled Draco off of her and onto the bed playfully. He pinned Draco's arms on either side of him, not giving him any room to move. He leaned down over the blond boys form and brought his lips close to his without touching them in a teasing way.

Blaise licked his lips, letting his tongue "accidentally" touch Draco's lips as well. Draco whimpered and tried to close the distance between them, but Blaise pulled away, tsking.

"Maybe you shouldn't have been so naughty." He said, his voice husky.

Draco tried to reach up again, just falling short of the others lips, pouting.

"I'm sorry." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Blaise's lips came crashing down on his in intense passion.

She watched as they snogged each other senseless, and rolled her eyes. For such masculine men, they really were quite sappy. She smiled and sighed, getting up from the bed and walking over to Blaise's wardrobe. She pulled out one of his large shirts and put it on. She took off her pants so she was in the shirt and her underwear before walking back over to the two.

She climbed into the bed, tapping the two boys as she got under the covers.

"I'd actually like to be able to sleep tonight, so keep it down."

Blaise sighed into Draco's mouth before pulling away and stripping off his shirt and pants. He helped Draco up and he did the same. Blaise walked around to Ginny's other side and they both got into bed on either side of her, the lights automatically dimming for them. Draco snuggled up to Ginny's back, and Ginny to Blaise's. And in minutes, all three of them were like that, pleasantly asleep.

Ginny awoke to the feeling of something on her back. She groaned and squinted at the brightness of the sunshine filtering through the large window. She sighed tried to get her bearings. She felt something rubbing her back, and groggily looked around. She was sprawled across both Draco and Blaise, laying horizontally, and Blaise was resting with his eyes closed, his hand stroking up and down her back, a slight smile played on his lips.

She wriggled around on top of them for a second before taking a minute to stretch out their muscles. Her movements Draco up and he groaned, covering his face with his arm.

"Too bloody early," She heard him mutter from under his arm. Apparently he wasn't much of a morning person either.

She rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes and stood, wobbling for a second before getting her balance. She made her way towards the bathroom, almost running face first into the wall several times before she actually made it through the door.

"Shower," She said out loud to them in explanation, and heard them grunt in response.

She was in the shower for a good half hour, luxuriously just standing there and relaxing her muscles before scrubbing herself clean. She almost feel asleep standing up a few times, and decided she should get out the shower before she hurt herself.

She wrapped a towel around her went body before stepping through the door and into the bedroom which, she noticed, was completely empty.

_Must've gone down to breakfast._

She sighed and let her towel drop to the floor. She was just walking over to pick up her uniform that she had worn the other night when the door opened.

She immediately went red with embarrassment as Draco and Blaise walked in on her, quite nude. Blaise was holding a tray full of breakfast, and when he looked up to see why Draco had stopped, his eyes and mouth went wide, and he very nearly dropped the tray.

Ginny stammered and tried to cover herself with her hands, while the boys just stood there gawking. She gave them a pathetic attempt of a scowl before trying to cover herself up as much as possible before walking over to retrieve her clothing.

That's when they seemed to spring into action. Before she could put anything on, Draco was to her in less than three strides, pinning her to the wall. His lips went everywhere, kissing her lips, throat, down to her collarbone and over to her breasts. He licked and nibbled and caressed. She could practically hear her heart pounding in her chest as she kissed him back and racked her hand down him back. He slid her legs apart and lifted he knee in between them. He rubbed his knee back and forth over the place she needed him most. She moaned and bit her lip to stifle it.

Blaise came over and Draco handed her over to him for him to continue. Blaise placed Ginny on the bed, feeling her all over while Draco took off his shirt. She glanced over at Draco and her eyes widened and narrowed at the same time at what she saw.

"Draco what's that?" All feeling of passion and heat fled her in a second, and a feeling of fear and panic, the sound of her pounding heart raised up, practically choking her.

There, on Draco's left forearm, was the burnt black, disgustingly familiar brand of the Dark Lord.

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**Sorry it took so long to update!! Busy first week of ninth grade haha nerve wracking :) But now things should slow down a bit, and Ill hopefully be posting a little faster. And you know the drill. Want me to update faster? REVIEW :)**


	7. Of Firing Tempers and Quidditch Fun

**Chapter 7**

**Disclaimer: You don't have to rub it in that I don't own Harry Potter ****L**

**A/N: Uhm, wow. Sorry, sorry, sorry! I have no excuses as to why it took this long to update. Well, scratch that. I actually do. My computer kept crash dumping and I had to create a new account and lost all of my Harry Potter files. That and I have been WAY busy. I've been spending most of my time writing a book. An actual one at that lol. That and I had complete writers block when it came to this story. I tried, trust me, I did. It was just painful to get out. But here it finally is!**

Ginny lay still on the bed. Her eyes were opened in shock, conveying all her hurt and fear. Her face paled of the flush that had previously tinged her skin a lovely pink, and her hurt, brown eyes seemed to stand out against the stark white in contrast. She clenched and unclenched her jaw as the fear and hurt finally turned white-hot rage boiling in her.

How could she have been so dumb? So blind? All along she knew she was dealing with a Malfoy, this arrogant prick, but it never even occurred to her that he might actually be one of them! She and her family were completely opposed Voldemort and his followers, and here she was, traitor to her own family by associating herself with this… this murderer!

Her shallow breathing began to come in quickly and her eyes narrowed and her brows raising high on her forehead in her disbelief. She allowed herself to take one from Draco's book and built up her walls around her emotions. She had seen him do it enough, even if the lack of emotion in his eyes always freaked her out some, she didn't want him to be able to see how much she was hurt by this.

She had to admit to herself that she was far past hurt. The thoughts that he might have been using her to get information on Dumbledore or her family, or simply to reel her in, invaded her mind and crushed her. She had actually thought that he cared. She had actually believed that he could possibly, for once, have changed into a better person than his father. But she had been wrong. That is all he became. That was all he was. He was just like his wretched father.

They hadn't moved an inch, or even said a thing after her accusation. Draco had built up his walls too, she could see. He stood still and rigid, and all his previous emotions were wiped clean from his pale face. Blaise stood slightly to the side of them, eyes worrying. He was looking back and forth from Ginny's slightly crazed eyes to Draco's seemingly lifeless ones. She could tell he didn't know what to do.

She snarled and stood up abruptly, shoving her way past Draco to get to her clothes that lay on the floor, clean and laundered from the house elves. She didn't blush like crazy from beneath their stare at her nude body, as she usually would have. She didn't care anymore. She didn't care anymore about either one of them.

Of course, that wasn't very fair to Blaise, she knew. He had done nothing wrong. But she was still outraged at him too. It was painfully obvious he had known he had the Dark Mark. He wasn't at all surprised or enraged at the gruesomely, ugly mark marring Draco's perfect skin. And she could tell from his eyes that he didn't care either. He still liked Draco. That, in and of itself, was enough to make her dislike him as much as she did Draco at the moment.

She rushed over the to clothes and started to dress haphazardly. She turned the other way from them, intent on pretending that they weren't there, but she could feel the weight of their stare on her back and naked form as she pulled on her clothes.

When she was dressed she turned around and bent down in front of the bed, gathering the papers she had scattered to the floor the night before. She dumped them into a messy pile, and looked around for her school bag.

Try as she might, she couldn't find it though. She looked under the bed, by the dresser, in the bathroom, any where that it might be, but to no avail. She let out an enraged huff and was just about to forget the damn thing and leave when she heard Blaise mutter a small, "here."

She stomped over to where he held it out to her and snatched it from his hand, not bothering to thank him for it or be at all polite about it. She stuffed the papers in the bag, not really caring that she all but crumbled most of them, slung it across her back, and marched over to the portrait hole of Blaise's Head Boy room.

"Ginny, wait," it was Blaise who spoke as she reached out to grab the handle. Of course it was him. Blaise was the better of the two, she thought to herself. At least he wasn't branded like cattle to serve some insane snake. And he did seem to care about her. But that wasn't enough to make her forgive him so easily.

Her back stiffened but she didn't turn to face them. "What do you want, Blaise?" Her voice was hoarse from holding back so much emotion.

"Don't go, Ginny. Please." She could hear the pleading in his voice, but hardened her resolve.

"I don't see why I should stay. How could I possibly want to be around a Death Eater like him? Look at that ugly mark on his arm. It probably reflects his personality. You'd do well to stay away from him, too."

Again she was interrupted before she could slam out of the room. "Oh, and you're any better? Look at you, you hypocrite. This is war. There two sides. Who's to say Dumbledore's is better? He's still trying to control people, manipulate them, and use them as pawns for himself. He's no better than the Dark Lord is. He's probably even worse. Look at how he sugar coats things to get his way. At least Voldemort is straight up with it, unlike Dumbledore." Draco sneered at her back.

She whirled around, rage emanating from her in waves, her eyes blazing. "At least he's not a murderer. Yea, this is war, but he doesn't do it as recreation. He doesn't do it for fun, like your crazed snake. I don't see how you can follow him. How can you follow in the footsteps of your damned father? I thought you were better than that, but obviously I was wrong. You're just as bad as him," she spat at him.

"Oh, and I suppose you're just some saint, are you? At least I _know_ who I am. At least I don't act like some goody-goody, when in reality I go behind my blood-traitor families back to become the Slytherin _whore."_

She saw Blaise tense, and an angry look crossed his features. He turned to Draco for scolding, but at the deadly look in his eyes, he stopped.

Ginny felt as if she had just been physically slapped in the face. Her eyes started stinging from the tears that she was trying to hold back, and it was all because she knew that it was true. That really was what she was doing.

She had no comeback for that, she had nothing that could hurt him as much as that did. "Have fun rotting in Hell, murderer," she taunted one last time, before spinning on her heels and slamming out of the Head Boy room.

Once outside of the room, she leaned her back against the portrait, breathing heavily as if she'd just run a marathon. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, before opening them and blindly running away from that room as fast as possible, her red curls flying out behind her in a whirlwind of fire.

She ran for what felt like forever, not even bothering to look where she was going, running into countless students as she passed and blocking out their curses after her.

All she could do was think. Think about all those horrible but true words she had said to Draco. She kept repeating his words in her head, thinking on how true they were and how much that actually hurt. To know that she had been associating with the enemy, and she had been liking it. She felt like a traitor to her family, her friends, Harry, and to her heart.

She followed the winding of the halls until it led her to the one place she expected it to go: out.

She ran from the castle doors out to the lake, and she started to stumble and trip as she neared the waters edge. She fell to her knees beside a beech tree right on the waters front, and let the wracking sobs take her. She crawled on her hands and knees until she was leaning her back against the tree and curled her knees up to her chest and her arms around her knees, forming a tight cocoon to shield her from the onslaught of emotions.

And then she let the wall, that she had fought so hard to keep up, crumble from her mind and her heart, and gave into the grief stabbing into her heart.

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Blaise sighed in content, wrapped up in the warm steam of his bathroom. He shook his dark, wet hair out and wrapped a towel around his slender waist before exiting into his room.

His warm smile and easy attitude suddenly dropped as he entered and saw a very sexy, but very difficult Slytherin. Draco had started taking up Blaise's room to hang out in more often than not lately, and not that Blaise minded, it's just that… ok, well Blaise did mind. It wasn't often in the past week that he had had a moment of peace and quiet or lack of worry. Ever since Ginny left, Blaise found that a dark cloud seemed to loom over anything good. He had grown attached to the little vixen, and all of a sudden she's gone and ignoring him. And not only that, but since he had been trying to get her off of his mind, and try and find a soothing moment once in a while, who had to show up and remind him of her all over again? That's right, Ferret Boy, here.

"What do you want, Draco?"

"Well, gee, someone's touchy. If I had known you despised my presence so much, I would have stayed away."

"You know that's not it, Drake. Why are you being so stubborn though? Why wont you just apologize to her? Come on, man! It's driving me insane! And you cant possibly tell me that you don't miss that devil, too?"

Blaise hadn't been able to move Draco on this at all. He hated it that these two people that he liked so much were fighting, and he was growing sick of it. He had tried himself many times to catch the redhead, but she always seemed to slip away right when he caught sight of her. He doubted she would listen anyway. He remembered the horrified look in her eyes when she saw the mark, and when Draco had said all those terrible things. He couldn't necessarily blame her for that, either. But she wouldn't even give him a chance! She wouldn't even try to hear him out, and it was starting to drive him absolutely nuts. Well, that along with Mr. Tag-along over here. But whenever he did see her in the classes they shared, she sat as far away from both of them as possible and wouldn't so much as glance in their direction. Even in potions, as partners, she wouldn't listen to them, but got the work done as fast as humanly possible, not really caring whether she did an accurate job or not, and got out of their precisely when the bell rang. And as for the tutoring lessons, well she had yet to reply to a single one of his owls, and hadn't shown up to one of them yet.

"Actually, I can tell you that. And I will. _I don't miss her._ See? It's that simple. I don't. Not after all that she said to me. Sure, I was equally cruel back, but she had it coming, saying those things." Draco turned his nose up and away from Blaise. The other thing Blaise had been trying to do lately was amend these hurt feelings between Draco and her, which was quite impossible seeing as he couldn't get a hold of her. Anything he said about her to Draco went out the window. These two were the most _stubborn_ people he had ever met.

He supposed there was no way to sympathize with either of them from his perspective. He didn't see anything good or bad about either side. As Draco had clearly, unfortunately, stated, this was war. And for that, he didn't agree with either side. If he could make his own side, that would just team up and stay out of it, he would. But then again, that would take effort and time, and more than likely that side would be pulled into it one way or another. But that didn't mean he had to like it.

Blaise narrowed his eyes and looked away from the blond beauty currently resting on his oh so inviting bed, and went to his wardrobe. He quickly threw on his boxers (ignoring the cat-call from Draco) and dressed in pair of loose, old (but stylish) jeans. Come on, this _is _Blaise we are talking about. He put on a long sleeved, black shirt and threw on one of his warmer robes. It had began to cool down some, as it began to go further into fall. The days began to get shorter, if not by much, and the breeze that often passed over the lake chilled through layers of clothes. Not to mention it was raining a little more often, but there is the little fact that this is England, for Merlin's sake. Today, however still cold, happened to be an exception from the rain. And Blaise was taking full advantage of the day.

He walked over towards the door, putting on his thick boots and grabbing up his broom before leaving Draco without another word. He continued down the hall, letting his door swing shut on its own, but of course never heard it. Instead he heard it being swung open further and footsteps following after him. Geez, could he not even get some peace during Quidditch?

He sighed and rolled his eyes before turning to look at Draco, who had now caught up to him and was walking in stride with him. No, apparently he couldn't get away, even for an evening.

He supposed maybe he was being a bit unfair to Draco. It wasn't exactly his fault that he's helpless when it comes to being left alone. It's not his fault that, even though he denies it, he relies upon others way too much. Blaise sighed. No, he couldn't blame him for that, and maybe should take it a bit easier on him for it. However, he could blame him for being a complete _arse_ to Ginny. If he had just stayed cool and collected, maybe they could have avoided this situation. Maybe she would have listened, and maybe she would be walking with them at this very moment.

He slung his broom over his shoulder and glanced once more at Draco, surprised to find that he actually had his own broom with him as well.

"How did you know?"

Draco caught him looking at his broom and just shrugged. "Seems like a good enough day. In fact, that's the reason I came over. And if you hadn't wanted to play, I would've just gone on without you." Draco flashed Blaise a slight grin before speeding up his pace a little. It was just then that Blaise did notice Draco attire, and he was, indeed, dressed warmly.

They stepped out into the sunshine from the shadow of the castle, and Blaise reveled in it. His warm, tan skin seemed to glow underneath the suns touch, and he exhaled a long breath. It felt so much better to be out of the cooped up castle. Here, he could fly and be free from all restraints. Here he could just relax.

He walked at a leisurely pace behind Draco, not bothering to speed up for him. He took his time walking towards the Quidditch pitch, strolling through the grass and closing his eyes as he walked. He let a draft of wind blow the hair from his face and smiled slightly. It was so good to be outside. This was where he belonged.

He finally reached the Quidditch pitch, and saw Draco standing beside the stands some, and he wasn't moving. Instead he was just staring up at the sky. Blaise went to stand beside him and began shrugging out of his robes; it was much warmer than he had anticipated.

When his robe was off and he had draped it on the ground, not really caring if he got it dirty since he had a hundred other like it, he looked up at the sky, as Draco was still doing. It was then that he finally noticed a person flying with vigor high above the stands. The person was carrying a quaffle, and he gaped a little as he (or was it a she?) did a series of intricate maneuvers in the sky, twisting around through the air like a bird. Their body was pressed flat against the broom, and even though he could tell it wasn't top of the line, the person was going far faster than he had ever seen before. And when it seemed not possible to go any faster, the person let out a burst of speed and energy (along with an amazingly loud, outraged scream) and flinging the quaffle through the hoop hard enough that it went flying past and almost out of the stadium. He watched as the figure flew and easily caught it before it could go too far.

And it was then, when the figure had slowed down enough for him to see clearly, that he noticed that the figure definitely had a cascade of brilliantly red curls.

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It had been about a week since Ginny had spoken to either of the Slytherin boys. Of course she had seen them, but that didn't mean she had spoken to them. She never slowed down enough in her day to have any time for that.

After she had pulled herself together by the lake, she had put up a wall stronger than she ever had. She couldn't think about what had happened. She refused to. She had become hard as stone about that subject, and to help her avoid said subject, she was filling her days from top to bottom with activities.

In the mornings, of which she woke late, she would take a shower and rush down to breakfast, where mostly everyone had already finished, and shovel down some food. Not much however. Her appetite had diminished significantly since… well, you know, since then. In fact, she was loosing some weight, not that she really cared, and she hadn't been trying much on the side of her appearances. She never put on makeup before, but now with the lack of sleep and the bags under her eyes, she definitely needed it. She would slip into her old robes (she had quit wearing the new ones the had bought) and not bother to notice if they were dirty or in need of ironing.

After breakfast, she would rush to her first period, and all her other periods in between, not stopping to talk to anyone, and always being to her class on time. One of her biggest rules while in class was the 'no-talking-unless-called-on' rule that she was sticking to wholeheartedly. She never looked at anyone in the classroom but the teacher if she could help it, especially avoiding a brooding blond and a worried tall, dark, and handsome. Even after all the classes were through with in the day, she would eat and go to the library to study, or go up to her room and complete all her homework for that day.

However it was the weekend now, and try as she might, she couldn't find as many things to fill that _up_ with. Not for lack of trying though. For right now, she was out on the Quidditch pitch, practicing as never before. It was odd how diligent she had become since… then.

Quidditch wasn't also just to fill up her day, she genuinely enjoyed the sport. She didn't think she was as good as anyone like Harry, but she was okay, and she did it for love more than anything. Just the feeling of flying free, feeling the wind in her locks and the sun on her face seemed to take away all her worries. Plus, she wanted to get good enough so she could try out for the team and actually have a shot at making it.

She smiled and her eyes danced in the sunshine. Yes, today of all days, was better. She had the quaffle under her arm and she sped from one end of the pitch to the other. At the beginning of her playing, she was enjoying it. But she soon began to think of Harry, for it was hard not to think of him when she was playing this sport that he loved, and that she had played against him in so many times. Her pace began to quicken as she became mad at herself. How could she be such a fool?

She spun through the air, shooting herself fast in the direction of the goal posts, using all her anger to fuel her speed as she shot as fast as a rocket. She strained her eyes from the wind whipping against her face, her hair thrashing against her and stinging where it hit her. Well, she did deserve pain after all she had done.

She twisted her body and did a complex series of tricks that she had made up on her own. She began to think of how Harry would be proud if he could see her now. But no, no he could never be proud of her if he knew she had betrayed him. She squeezed her eyes shut as tears began to sting at her eyes, and she clenched her jaw to hold them back. What would her family say? She was such a fool to fall for such a trick. They would all think of her as the ignorant, stupid little girl they always saw her as.

She threw her body into a spiral, hugging herself as close to the broom as she could. She tried to imagine it was Harry whom she was clinging to so tightly, but her mind and heart betrayed her as she only saw herself hugging to Draco and Blaise. Her temper at it all helped her gain the speed that she needed. She let it boil, not caring if anyone saw her. She did a few fast flying flips, all a bit jerky in her opinion from her anger that she put in the force, before arriving at the other end of the pitch, and as she hurtled herself out of her tumble in the sky, she flung the quaffle away from her body as hard as she could, and all her problems with her.

The process of releasing all of her pent up anger drained her, but she still easily went to catch the quaffle after it had soared through the middle hoop, just as she had planned. It was then that it occurred to her that the ringing in her ears was from her own voice. Throwing all of that emotion away with such force had forced a cry from her lips so loud it was still reverberating around in her brain.

When she had the quaffle safely in her arms, she sagged a little, and turned back around, intent on continuing her practice. She faltered in the sky when she saw a spark of blond and dark hair far off by the stands.

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Blaise watched as Ginny faltered as she looked in their direction. Finally! Now maybe he'd have a chance to talk to her! He watched as she descended from the sky, looking like an angel the whole time as the sun lit her red hair on fire.

But he noticed she that she wasn't angling herself towards him, but away from him towards the girls locker-room. Oh, so that's how it was going to be. She was going to be evasive. Again. Well, if they could be stubborn, he could be too.

"You comin', Drake?" he asked, beginning to absentmindedly walk towards her direction.

"No. I'll meet you in the sky," he said with a bit of a huff in his voice.

"Come on! Why not?" Blaise turned to look at Draco, who was looking at Ginny with something close to longing in his eyes. When Blaise blinked, it was gone. Draco ignored Blaise's question and instead took to the sky.

Blaise continued over to where Ginny had now landed and was walking briskly with her back to him. She looked as if the world were out to get her, and she'd rather be anywhere else. Which was probably true, knowing her.

His long stride quickly overtook hers, and he reached out an arm to stop her. He placed it on her shoulder, and although she stopped, she didn't turn to look at him. Instead she cleared her throat and asked, "What do you want?"

"Come on Gin, not you too?" he asked with a little more desperation in his voice than he intended.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She tried to continue walking, but he abruptly spun her around so she was facing him.

Her hair was matted, and he could tell she hadn't been sleeping from the bags under her eyes, and her robes weren't in the best of conditions, but to him she still looked beautiful. It just felt so good to be looking at her and touching her for the first time in a week.

She looked up at him with weary eyes but all he could do besides ogle at her was stroke a finger down her cheek. She looked to be fighting against closing her eyes at his touch, which made him grin. Good, at least he still had some effect on her.

She seemed to snap out of it and jerked her head back away from him. "Don't touch me." She said it with hardly any emotion in her voice, and her eyes seemed to reflect her voice. So she had built up a bloody wall too?

"Come on, Gin," he repeated again. "Don't do this. I know you're mad at him, and you have a right to be, but surely you must notice that's not what he's like! The whole time we were together, he didn't act like a Death Eater and you know it. And he still doesn't. Why cant you just see?"

Her eyes narrowed at him. "I can see perfectly fine. I can see that mark on his arm. That's all that matters to me now. That's all that he is to me now. A Death Eater. He's no human being, and he doesn't deserve my sympathy or forgiveness." She lowered her tone to a softer one, her eyes shining with sincerity. "Just… just leave me alone Blaise. You know it's not you I'm mad at. But how can I be around you without being around him? And you knew all along and never told me. You kept me in the dark, just like he did. How are you any better?"

"I know I shouldn't have kept you in the dark, but it wasn't my secret to share. It was his choice, and there is nothing I can do about it. But I'm at least willing to look past that and to his personality and to who he is. He is not his father. He is not as cold and cruel. You need to look past that mark and see who he is as a human."

"Yea, well, some things cant be looked past. And that's one of them." She turned her back on him again and began to walk away from him, and this time he didn't follow her. She turned around just before entering the girls locker room, and he saw the words "I'm sorry" escape from her lips.

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Draco watched from above as Blaise and Ginny spoke. He saw as his friend stroked her cheek and grabbed her shoulder. And then he saw her walk away, glancing back only once. He saw as Blaise's face fell slightly, and knew that he would be back to the pouty, annoying Slytherin he was as soon as he reached the sky. Draco knew that Blaise would never give up. He never did when it came to something he wanted, or something worth fighting for. For some unexplainable reason, he thought she was worth fighting for.

Draco couldn't exactly blame him for thinking that. She was something else, even if he would never actually voice that to his friend. He did miss her, even after her fiery words cut through him like ice. But he didn't think he deserved it. It was his choice which side he chose in this war, not hers. He was quite content with his choice too. He liked the power, and he liked the jobs he was given to do. But the one thing he didn't like, was loosing Weaselette over there for it.

He sighed. There was nothing he could do about it now. Not that he would. Like I said, he was very content at where he was in this war.

He watched silently as Blaise slowly hefted himself onto his broom ungracefully as ever, and flew up to meet him in the middle. He and Blaise flew around for about half an hour, adjusting themselves to their brooms after riding it for the first time in what felt like ages. They were just beginning to play against each other for the snitch when a painful burning in Draco's left arm distracted him.

He winced as the pain increased, seeming to encircle his arm, before ebbing a bit. He rolled his eyes. Oh, perfect timing. Right when he was doing something he enjoyed, he had to put down everything for this. If anything, this was the one thing he didn't like about being a Death Eater. He was the one in control of this job. It wasn't so much that he minded, but it was definitely a hassle, and was always interrupting his good times. He sighed. Better get it over with. If he didn't act fast, the pain would just get worse until he did.

He called Blaise over with a slight huff.

"Look, I got to go in now. You stay out here as long as you want, but I cant guarantee you I'll be back." He didn't wait for any sort of reply. He knew Blaise would understand, he always did. That's one of the things he liked best about Blaise. That and his amazingly sexy body.

He was slightly glad to be going in now. The sun was quickly being shrouded by grey clouds, promising rain. He was glad when he met the shelter of the castle, and quickly hurried through it. He knew what he had to do this time, but would it make it any easier? He had to find who he was looking for first.

He tried in the Slytherin common room, and in the mans rooms, and when he couldn't find him there, he tried the Great Hall, where everyone was gathered for lunch, but still no sign of him. Way to make an easy job hard.

He really started to become frustrated. It wasn't as if he could just sigh and give up. He couldn't stop until he found him, and if he didn't find him soon than that annoying pain in his arm would be back.

He wandered through the courtyards, down in the dungeon, anywhere that he thought he might find him, but he didn't. The pain was just starting to come back when he rounded a corner almost literally bumped into him as he was exiting the library. _Well, duhh!_ he thought to himself, mentally rolling his eyes at his stupidity. Where else would he be but in the library, trying to make himself stronger by learning more, or trying to find out that odd thing that had happened the other day to him concerning Weasley.

He pulled him quietly into a dark alcove, looking about to make sure no one was around to overhear.

"It's your time to leave now. He's ordered it."

"Do you know how long I'll be gone?"

"No, all I know is you have to leave, _now_, and be inconspicuous about it. We don't want anyone knowing until it's time."

The other boy gave a quick nod of his head in the darkness of the alcove, and quickly rushed out, disappearing from sight, and disappearing from mind.

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Anyway, again so sorry for the long wait. I also apologize because I know that this one isnt as long as the others. I was going to add more, but I'm saving that for the next chapter instead. No, for those of you who have asked, I am not quitting on this story. As difficult as it can be at times, namely now, I would feel bad if I quit on it. I have an actual idea for this story, it's just taking a bit to get there. Plus I find that once Ive started something, I wont stop until I finish it, and I felt bad for leaving you guys hanging for that while. I was in a bit of a rush while typing it up, and its currently 3 in the morning, so if there are any grammar mistakes, be sure and review and tell me about them. Thanks! YOU GUYS ROCK!

Again sorry. Oh, and Merry Christmas!! Thanks to all those who stood by me and reviewed! Reviews are always welcome!!!


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